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STORY OF TOE STAGE 

THE- PAST YEAR, 

II '^^^il Betefice to 





I- i.. JL. v.iNr;v 



Narrative of the ^ . ; all x. -. n s - " C pera 

histories of each .- ..., analyses C ' che 

acting-, comments ' many auth.^ , .ud .. .,. oa 

the.'--owr. piece< /ull casts ot c; 'actes of the 

principal performances, complete reccr )*" wie 

. iieatrit-al yanr iu Boston, list of thei^fc j 

officials, biographical sketches, ard 

PORTRAllS OFjtCTORS/NDjlCTi^SSES, || 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS )I PLAYS. 







' LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



il^ajt. iop^g]^ :f n.. 



Shelf.ri.12-21 7 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



/ ' 



THE THEATRE. 




" This is the night that either makes me or fordoes me quite."— Act V. 



/ 



THE 



;^LAYGOERS' YeAR-RoOK 



FOR 1888. 



STOIjY OF THE STAGE THE PAST YE/R, 

WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO BOSTON. 



BY CHARLES E. L. WINGATE, 

OF THE BOSTON JOURNAL. 



Narrative of the plots of all the new Plays and Operas, histories 

of each work, analyses of the plays and the acting, comments 

of many authors and actors on their own pieces, full casts 

of characters of the principal performances, complete 

I record of the theatrical year in Boston^ lists 

y) ^"^l of theatre officials, biographical sketches, and 

PORTRAITS OF ACTORS | ACTRESSES, 



With Illustrations of Plays. 



JAN 16 



1888 ^'^ 



THE 

STAGE PUBLISHING COMPANY. 

BOSTON, MASS. 



.AA 
^ 6 



^^.^ 



^ 



U 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the yeaf 1887, by Charles E. L. Wingate, in 
the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



Introduction. 



It is hoped by means of The Playgoers' Year-Book to 
preserve in convenient form the records of the stage, and 
though written essentially for Boston, yet, as every leading 
-ttraction visits this city and as the history of each play is 
faven, the book is practically a record of the American 
ctage for the time covered within the dates. It is the first 
dramatic year-book to be published in this country, 
although corresponding publications exist in London and in 
Paris. Most of the pictures are from The Theatre, a maga- 
zine whose general excellence guarantees their fidelity to 
life. For the sake of ccomparison in future, it may be well to 
state that there have been given during the year, besides the 
famil'ar works, forty-nine plays, five operas and two ballets 
new to Boston. 



Iedic/itoky f refacd 



TO 



MR. R. M. FIELD 



Nearly a quarter of a century ago a young man left his desk in 
the office of a Boston newspaper to accept the management of one 
of the leading theatrical institutions of the country, assuming upon 
the shortest notice responsible duties that required both energy, 
tact and executive ability to carry through successfully. That he 
did succeed completely is made evident by the fact that now his 
name stands among the highest in the roll of able and brilhant 
theatre directors. 

It was on the 15th. of February, 1864, that Mr. Richard M. Field 
became manager of the Boston Museum. Mr. E. F. Keach, who 
for three and a half years had carried on the work mapped out by 
the first stage manager of the Museum, Mr. W. H. Smith, died on 
the last day of January, and before twenty-four hours had elapsed 
the proprietor of the theatre, Hon. Moses Kimball, had offered the 
vacant position to his journalist friend. Mr. Field delayed a few 
ays for deliberation, and then accepted the proffer, taking charge of 



vi. Dedicatory Preface. 

the theatre at once and continuing at his post without intermission 
to the present time, thus making himself the senior in official service 
of all theatre managers in Boston. 

He was a Boston boy, the son of a well-known Boston teacher. 
After graduating from the Latin School and finding, upon the death 
of his father, that his plans for a collegiate course must be aban- 
doned, the young man had taken up the following of a sailor until 
near his twentieth year. Then returning from a cruise around the 
world he accepted an appointment on the staff ol the Boston Post 
and there remained several years, at the same time having a con- 
nection with the Saturday Gazette. During this period he not only 
obtained an insight into dramatic affairs, through the connection 
brought about by his newspaper work, but also won the friendship of 
Mr. Keach and of Mr. Kimball. It was, therefore, not unnatural 
that the proprietor of the Museum should turn to Mr. Field when 
there came the necessity for a new business chief. 

From the day when Rosedale ushered m his management at the 
Museum, with its first performance in Boston, up to the present 
time there has been manifested that sincerity and uprightness, co- 
operating with administrative ability and keenness of foresight 
which have resulted in giving to the Boston Museum continued suc- 
cess and lasting fame, and in establishing fixedly the high reputa- 
tion of Mr. Field as a theatre manager. 



IlAYGOERS Y^/IR-iOOK. 



-#"| January. ^ 

Miss Fortescue in Gretchen and King Rene's Daughter. — Gala- 
tea AND Bal Costume Ballet. — Mme. Modjeska in Daniela. 

— CoppELiA Ballet. — The Main Line. — Lawrence Barrett 
in Rienzi. — The Humming Bird. — Louis James in Virginius, 

— Caught in a Corner. 

fHE playgoer who at the opening of the new year, 1887, glanced 
at the prospectus of the theatrical events with the expectation 
of seeing many novelties proffered for his selection at the out- 
set could not have been disappointed, for January was brimming with 
musical and dramatic first performances. Taking opera, drama and 
ballet, there were eight works given their initial Boston production, 
besides three important revivals of old pieces. 

Running at the various theatres as the year came in were Princess 
Ida at the Globe, The Black Crook at the Boston, The Chouans at 
the Hollis Street, Sol Smith Russell in Pa at the Park, and Held by 
the Enemy at the Museum. The latter play was destined for a long 
run, its successful picturing of domestic and military life during the 
Rebellion serving as a great attraction, while the story, narrating the 
love of a Union officer for a Southern maiden and his honorable but 



10 



The Playgoers' Year-Book. 



[January, 




trying action when the spy, whom he suspects as his rival, is cap- 
tured, proved very interesting. Among the most striking scenes 
were those where Col. Prescott, the hero, is obliged to search the 
— . home of the heroine 



to capture her cousin, 
the spy ; where Rachel 
at the court martial, in 
a moment of passion, 
accuses the Union of- 
ficer of desiring to con- 
vict the Rebel youth 
because they are ri 
vals ; and where the 
escape of the spy is 

The Court Martial is Held by the Enemy at the Museum, ^j^tempted under plca 

that he has died, the result showing that such really was the case though 
his friends supposed the stretcher bore a living man. 

The theatre patron, eagerly attending the first new piece of the 
year, went on the evening of January t, to the Park Theatre there 
to see Miss May Fortescue, the English actress, in the play which W. 
S. Gilbert, the well known satirist, had written expressly for her, and 
called Gi^etchen. Founded upon the noble drama of the great 
German poet, the piece attempts to picture, in modernized form, the 
mythical tale of the rejuvenated Faust, not in the shape of a bur- 
lesque, but rather of a serious parody. It was first given in America 
at the New York Lyceum, Oct. i8, 1886, and was first heard in Bos- 
ton on this January 3. There is little to justify the parody of 
Goethe's work, and it merits but scanty commendation. To be 
sure there are bright lines and witty phrases, — such must be the 
case when Mr. Gilbert tries his hand at any style of writing, — but 
beyond that not much is to be said. The general question of the 
utility or propriety of parodying a dramatic poem of the exalted 
character of Faust is also open to consideration. Miss Fortescue, 
made her first appearance in Boston and as an actress was found 
wanting. She had personal qualifications, prettiness of features, 
exquisite form and an attractive voice that adapt her for public 
appearance, but her action was limited and weak. 




THE SEARCH IN "HELD BY THE ENEMY," AT THE MUSEUM. 




THE ESCAPE IN "HELD BY THE ENEMY," AT THE MUSEUM. 



1887]. Galatea — Bal Costume. ii 

Miss Fortescue revived for one night, January 15, Hon. Edmund 
Phipps's version of King Rene's Daughter, adopted from the Danish 
of Henrik Herz some thirty-five years ago and originally produced 
by Charles Kean with Mrs. Charles Kean in the part of lolanthe. In 
1854 it was played in Boston by Mrs A. C. Mowatt. Some years 
ago Mrs. Scott-Siddons appeared in a different version. The plot 
relates to the recovery of the sight ot a blind girl who has been kept 
in total ijnorance that she was afflicted different from other people. 

On the 5 th of January three novelties were presented at two 
theatres. The National Opera Company, that most ambitious but 
fiucLuating organization, appearing at the Boston, brought out for the 
first time in this city Victor Masse's comic opera of Galatea and 
the Bal Costume ballet, music by Rubinstein. Galatea had been 
condensed by Frederick A. Schwab into one act, yet the cutting had 
been done so skillfully that no break was discernible. In the opera 
the well-known story made familiar by legend and by play, of the 
beautiful statue imbued with Hfe in answer to the prayer of its 
sculptor, is repeated in practically the same form as that to which 
everyone is accustomed. The jealous wife and estranged lovers are 
not portrayed, but the action of the opera sees the mortalized 
Galatea playing pranks with her lover's affection, coquetting with 
the studio attendant, taking the presents with good grace from the 
wealthy Midas and absorbing more of the drink of Bacchus than 
was good for a flesh and blood statue, so that finally Pygmalion 
grows weary of his creation and prays her back again to her stone 
pedestal. The music is pretty throughout with a number of par- 
ticularly bright melodies interspersed to win popular favor. Miss 
Laura Moore, who made her first appearance in Boston, proved to 
be a little lady with a handsome face and graceful form, possessing 
every attribute for good stage presence as Galatea, and a voice of 
the pure, sweet type, melodious but not powerful. Mrs. Jessie 
Bartlett Davis made a pleasing Pygmalion. 

The Bal Costume ballet was simply a series of national dances 
set to the orchestral arrangement of Rubinstein's four-hand piano- 
music called by the title given the ballet. The stage pictures were 
admirable in their artistic arrangement, and the solos were grace- 
fully danced by Gilbert, Giuri, Carozzi and Cammarano. 



12 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [January, 

At the Hollis Street Theatre on the 5th, — a busy week, this, for 
the attendant at every novelty, — Mme. Mojeska gave the first per- 
formance in Boston of the German play Daniela, which had had 
its initial production by her in America at the Union Square 
Theatre, New York, December 13, 1886. She had presented the 
drama, in the original, in Berlin and other foreign cities. Daniela 
was written by Felix Phillipi and translated into English by W. Von 
Sachs and E. Hamilton Bell. The argument runs as follows : 
Daniela is the second wife of Count Von Lexon and though she 
loves him devotedly, she finds that his affection is buried in the 
grave with his first wife. But he does not know, and she does, that 
this former wife was unfaithful to him. Upon the attempt of the 
self-sacrificing Daniela to conceal this unpleasant truth from the 
Count, hangs the plot of the play. She seeks Ferdinand Von 
Amdt, the lover of the first wife, in order to have destroyed certain 
documentary evidence, damaging to her predecessor, but this visit 
is misconstrued by her husband whose suspicions have been aroused 
by Karl Von Bergen, the brother of his first wife and the man whose 
suit for the hand of the Count's neice is opposed by Daniela. Re- 
turning home one evening unannounced. Von Lexon surprises Von 
Arndt and Daniela together, they being on the very point of des- 
troying the compromising letters. The man escapes, but Daniela 
remains to receive the unjust accusation of her liege. For his sake 
she will not tell the truth, and so he remains still in the dark. Seek- 
ing a noted lawyer in order to take action for divorce. Von Amdt and 
the Count are thus inadvertently brought together, for the former is 
the lawyer in question, but as it happens that neither of the two is 
known to the other, it is only when the circumstances are revealed 
that the lawyer understands the case. This lawyer has a conscience. 
He confesses the actual facts to the astonished husband and then, of 
course, follows a challenge. The Count, full of remorse, goes back 
to his wife, but she will not return to him until, hearing of the pro- 
jected duel, she agrees to be his again if he will show his regard for 
her by abandoning the vengeance he has undertaken for his first 
wife's sake. He consents, and reconciliation and happiness follow. 

There is much originality in the main idea of the play, the shield- 
ing of a first wife's guilt by a second wife whose husband's affection 



188;]. Daniela — Coppelia. 13 

still lingers with the dead, and there are many strong points about 
the drama. But, on the other hand, there is sombreness and 
monotony, combined with impossibilities of action, that make the 
play drag and seem unrealistic at times. In Boston Daniela was 
received with favor while Mme. Modjeska's other novelty, The 
Choiians (brought out in t886) received less praise, exactly revers- 
ing the judgment of New York audiences. This difference of 
opinion between the two cities has been noticeable in many cases. 
Mme. Modjeska in the title role had an angelic character that well 
suited the natural tenderness and grace of her acting ; her delicate 
art, too, was well adapted to these characteristics though it was not 
fully capable of meeting the passionate parts of the story. 

Coppelia was the first work of the year that had its original 
American production in Boston. This ballet, (music by Delibes)^ 
was presented at the Boston by the National Opera Company on 
the last night of its engagement, January 15, and won an unmistakable 
success. For a number of years past, it has been upon the 
European boards and its story was otherwise familiar through various 
works which may have suggested its plot. E. T. A, Hoffman's story, 
Sandman^ has the main idea of Coppelia prevailing in it, and the 
Sandman has been utilized by Offenbach for his comic opera Conies 
d^ Hoffmann, The same may be said of the prior work of Adolph 
Adam, Pourpee de Nuj-emberg. A late comic opera made familiar 
in America during 1886, Edward Solomon's Pepita, was evidently a 
direct plagiarism of Coppelia. 

The story of the ballet runs in this wise : Coppelia is a beautiful 
automaton made by old Coppelius, and is so life-like in appearance 
that Frantz, a village youth, forgets his love for Swanilda and 
becomes enamored of the image." While the old mechanician is 
away Swanilda and her girl friends get into his house and there set 
all his automatons in motion, (giving chance for a humorous stage 
picture in the precise and regulated movements of the images of the 
Chinaman, the Indian, 'etc.) Suddenly Coppelius is heard returning 
and the frolicsome maids quickly escape, excepting Swanilda who 
hides away in the recess where the lovely image is set. Then enters 
Frantz. CoppeUus sees a chance to accomplish his greatest work of 
all. He gives the youth drugged wine, and by the use of his magi- 



The Playgoers' Year-Book. [January, 



cal art endeavors to endow the favorite automaton with the soul of 
the sleeping man. Success crowTis his efforts, though the real cause 
of the success he does not recognize. As a fact Swanilda has taken 
the place of Coppelia on the pedestal and she counterfeits cleverly a 
gradual coming to Hfe. Finally she is all life, much to the con- 
sternation of the old man, for her rushes across the stage and her 
banging over of the other automatons threaten a rather embarrassing 
charge for him to look after. Meanwhile, Frantz awakes, recog- 
nizes his true love and with her runs away. The remainder of the 
pantomime shows merely the union of the lovers and the comforting 
of old Coppelius, who has been much unstrung by the discovery 
that his art was not as powerful as he supposed. The touches of 
real humor in the pantomime are genuinely good while the music is 
bright, sparkling and melodious. M'lle. Giuri's impersonation of 
Swanilda was of exceeding merit ; she had danced the part often 
abroad and therefore was at home in the character. Her natural 
grace and elegance was made even more apparent by contrast with 
the comically stiff, mechanical movements she assumed when pictur- 
ing the automaton coming to hfe. 

''Realism, realism, realism " is the cry of the day, and a real tank 
of water on the stage, a real steam engine, a real horse or a real dog 
attract more attention, it would seem, than an ideal actor. One of 
the latest realistic plays is The Main Line, a '' railroad drama " first 
heard in Boston, January 17, at the Globe Theatre. Its initial 
appearance was at the New York Lyceum Theatre, September 18, 
1886. Charles Barnard, of The Century Magazine, and Henry C. 
De ]Mille, formerly the reader of plays at the Madison Square 
Theatre, were collaborators in the authorship, and under their super- 
vision the play was produced. It is the old story of the lowly but 
winning maiden gaining the affections of one above her station and 
culture, and gradually lifting herself, by high puq)ose and training, to 
the plane where their lives may be wedded without disparity. Possy, 
the telegraph operator at a Colorado railroad Station, falls in love with 
Lawrence Hatton, a romantic and generous artist, who is equally 
smitten with her charms. The scene predestined to be the striking 
one of the piece is that wherein a rear car, in which Possy's lover 
rides, becomes detached from the train just after it has left the 



188/]. The Main Line — Rienzi. 15 

station on the up-grade, and slides swiftly back. Possy sees the 
danger and like a flash, turns the switch so that the stray car will 
glide upon the main track instead of upon the siding into the gully. 
Then she thinks of the incoming express on the main track, and the 
danger of collision, and sacrificing love for duty, turns back the 
switch to let the single car smash, rather than risk the sacrifice of a 
hundred lives. Of course the hero escapes, however, and all ends 
merrily with the expectation of the marriage chime. 

The features of the play are the novel mechanical arrangement 
with the railroad track, depot and telegraph office, and the interior 
of the station master's apartments with a snow-storm raging without 
and the wires singing under the blasts of the wind, furnishing a solemn 
obligato to the plighting of the vows of Possy and the artist. The 
story itself is a simple one, simply told, and, as the action calls for 
considerable briskness, the life of the piece combined with its 
mechanical stage display make the tale acceptable in presentation. 
The company included Mr. De Mille, one of the authors, and J. B. 
Mason, formerly of the Boston Museum. 

On the 1 7th, of January an interesting revival was witnessed at 
the Boston Theatre. Lawrence Barrett brought out Rienzi, having 
presented the play only in Washington, Brooklyn and a few small 
places. It was the first production in Boston of Mary Russell Mit- 
ford's famous tragedy for very many years. In 1829 the elder James 
Wallack, after playing the piece in New York, brought it out at the 
Tremont Theatre, Boston. The cast then included William PI. 
Smith as Angelo Colona, and Mrs. George Barrett, Mrs. W. H. Smith, 
John Gilbert, J. M. Field and W. F. Johnson. As a literary work 
Miss Mitford's tragedy is not unknown, more especially because of 
the single great speech, " Friends, I come not here to talk," etc., 
that for years has been among the standard orations for school-boy 
declaiming. Nor is the story of Rienzi, the last of the Tribunes, un- 
familiar, since historians have made the record of that patriotic but 
over-vain man known to students, while Bulwer has told the story to 
the general reader in his well-known novel named for the hero. But 
Miss Mitford's tragedy preceded the novel, although, indeed, Bulwer 
took none of his narrative from the drama and uses the only point 
of resemblance in the presence of a love intrigue between a relative 



1 6 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [January, 

of Rienzi and a member of the party antagonistic to the Tribune. 
Buhver's book appeared in 1835. Miss Mitford's play was 
written in 1824. In its first form it does not seem to have 
been satisfactory to the author, as she herself writes in a 
letter to a friend, quaintly dated '* Friday, I don't know the day of 
the month, but the last Friday in November," 1824, "I have been 
hard at work altering a play which I hope to get out within a month 
at Drury Lane. It is on the subject of Rienzi. Macready is with 
me heart and soul." Her first idea of dramatizing this romantic 
career came the year previous, but she was afraid of the attempt 
afraid lest she should get nervous and fail. When finished, Mr. 
Macready was in favor of bringing out the play as written by a 
man " to avoid the great annoyance of newspapers, etc., so un- 
pleasant to a female writer," says Miss Mitford. October 9, 1828, 
Rienzi was given its first production on any stage, at the Drury 
Lane, the original cast being as follows : Rienzi, Mr. Young; Angelo 
Colonna, Mr. Cooper ; Stephen Colonna, Mr. Younge ; Ursini, Mr. 
Mude ; Claudia, Miss Phillips ; Lady Colonna, Mrs. Faucet. The 
play had 34 performances. It was brought out very carefully. 
Clarkson Stanfield, afterwards the celebrated artist, who began as a 
scene painter painted the scenery, giving in one place an accurate 
representation of Rienzi's house, which at that time still existed in 
Rome and was shown as a curious relic of the domestic architecture 
of the Middle Ages. 

In 1826 a manuscript copy of Rienzi was brought to America by 
Macready, but it was not until January, 1829, that the play received 
its first presentation in this country. It was at the old Park Theatre 
in New York, the original American cast being as follows : Rienzi, 
James Wallack the elder ; Stephen Colonna, Mr. Phillips ; Angelo 
Colonna, Mr. Barry ; Savelli, Mr. Woodhall ; Ursini, Mr. Richings ; 
Claudia, Mrs. Hilson ; Lady Colonna, Mrs. Sharp ; Teresa, Mrs. 
Durie. Mr. Wallack is said to have '' personated the hero with 
great spirit and effect." The last production of the play in New 
York, and probably in America, before the revival by Mr. Barrett, 
was in May, 1857, when at Wallack's old theatre the elder Wallack 
again interpreted Rienzi, with Mrs. Buckland (expressly engaged 
for the part) as b/y Colonna, Southern as Angelo, and Mrs. Hoey 



THE THEATRE. 




M 




<^^&'Ay^'>^ 



^f\(kQL iyerjiar). 



OF AUGUSTIN DALY'S COMPANY. 



188;]. RiENZi. 17 

as Claudia. Mr. Wallack provided the version of the tragedy then 
used. Three other plays have been worked out over the life of the 
Roman Tribune. In 1825 a successful French tragedy called Rienzi 
was brought out in Paris, thus antedating Miss Mitford's first rep- 
resentation, although not her composition, of the play. On the 
1 2th of April, 1836, Jonas B. Phillip's version of Bulwer's Rienzi 
was produced at the old Franklin Theatre, New York, with John 
R. Scott as Rienzi. May 23, 1836, another Rienzi, by Miss 
Medina, the actress, based on Bulwer's novel, was brought out at the 
old Bowery Theatre, New York, with Mr. Hamblin in the title role, 
to be revived again in 1839. The version used by Mr. Barrett is 
Miss Mitford's original one, rewritten, however, and reconstructed by 
Mr. Steele Mackaye under the direction of Mr. Barrett himself. It 
was produced for the first time at Washington on the 13th of 
December, 1886, with the same cast that appeared in Boston. 

The story of the tragedy follows out very closely the actual history 
of the later days of the Roman whom it commemorates. It is 
founded directly on the account in Gibbon's Roman Empire. 
When the play opens the spectator is transported to Rome in the 
middle of the fourteenth century. The Pope is then residing at 
Avignon, while in the Eternal City are the two factions of the nobles, 
the Ursini and the Colonna. Rienzi will become the saviour of the 
people ; he will give back liberty to the Romans ; and lighting the 
beacon of liberty upon the ancient ruined altar he proclaims the 
coming of freedom from the oppression of the nobles, receiving at 
once the honor from the citizens of being appointed their Tribune. 
Meanwhile a comphcation is arising, as shown by the love passages 
between young Angelo Colonna and Claudia, the daughter of Rienzi. 
In his devotion to the beautiful girl the scion of the ancient house of 
Colonna becomes a follower of the people's Tribune. A member of 
the Ursini family has been condemned to death, but through the 
intercession of Claudia is pardoned by Rienzi. Then the nobles 
combine and choose as the time for action that hour which marks 
the marriage feast of Angelo and Claudia. During the banquet 
they intend to assassinate the Tribune. But their plot is discovered 
and frustrated by Rienzi, who pardons their condemnatory act only 
on condition that they take the oath of allegiance to the State. The 



1 8 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [January, 

nobles swear allegiance, yet soon break their pledge and again rise 
in revolt against the man of the people. They are defeated and 
sentenced to death. Meanwhile young Angelo has quarreled with 
Rienzi and becomes a prisoner with the rest of the nobility. Rienzi 
would forgive the youth, but the latter will make no submission for 
the pardon. The pleading of Claudia leads Rienzi, in spite of all, 
to follow out his natural inclinations, and he resolves to spare his 
daughter's husband. The elder Colonna, the head of that family, 
has been killed, and lady Colonna, taking his place, urges on the 
nobles, who once more rise against the Tribune, and this time with 
success, for the people, wearied with the demands that have come 
upon them of late from Rienzi, desert their leader and leave him to 
stand alone. Rienzi is stabbed to death, and with this tragic picture 
the play ends. 

The tragedy is essentially a one-part play. The hero of the stor)' 
is the all-in-all and scarcely any interest is felt in the other char- 
acters. One cares very little what they do or what becomes of them, 
except so far as their distribution may affect the single figure pre- 
dominating over all. Even the love-passage between Angelo and 
Claudia is but a point of advantage offered to Rienzi for the display 
of parental affections and solicitude. The Tribune is the absorbing 
portrayal of the life picture and each scene resolves itself into a 
series of great oratorical efforts by Rienzi. The play as a whole 
must be pronounced dramatically dull though well written from a 
literary point of view. Its attraction, as presented by Mr. Barrett, 
lay in its mounting, for under his guidance the various opportunities 
for scenic display were so elaborated as to make the production a 
grand pageant. The leading character, with its many speeches, well 
suited Mr. Barrett's declamatory style of acting and was sustained by 
him with strength and consistency. 

Mr. Barrett, in speaking of Rie7izi to the writer, said, " I saw that 
just at the present time the people would like a play of this spec- 
tacular order, with grand scenic effects and good music, and so I 
l)rought out Rienzi. The chief character is a stilted one, no doubt 
of that, but it gives a chance for some excellent surroundings. 
Another writer than Miss Mitford would have made the play 
stronger for the stage. I have altered it considerably so as better to 



188;]. The Humming Bird — Virginius. 19 

meet the wants of our audiences. The feature of Rienzi's great 
love for his child has been interpolated, and the church scene has 
also been put in. The character of Rienzi is certainly a good one 
for oratorical effect. That indeed, was what the people wanted in 
those days when Miss Mitford wrote." 

The Salsbury Troubadours presented at the Park Theatre, January 
24, for the first time in Boston Fred. Williams and George Stout's 
farcical comedy The Humming Bird which had been originally 
acted in St. Louis Nov. 26, 1886. The meagre plot relates to com- 
plications occasioned by Augustus Honeymoon advertising, under the 
name of •' Humming Bird," for an actress and Joseph Brass also ad- 
vertising for a stage artiste, and by Mrs. Honeymoon and other ladies 
answering one or the other advertisement. The piece is of varying 
character, in some parts good in others bad, opening rather dull but 
ending brightly. It was carried through with sparkling humor by 
the Troubadours. 

The first appearance as " stars " in Boston, of Louis James and 
Marie Wainwright was signallized January 24, by the revival of 
Sheridan Knowles's Virginius at the Globe. Mr. James possesses a 
fine appearance for the stage as well as a grand voice, deep and 
sonorous, two natural characteristics that are eminently fitting for 
the noble Roman father of history. At times he was too heavy 
in his acting but he was always sincere, earnest and strong. Miss 
Wainwright, barring her inclination now and then to rant and 
gesture out of place, was an adequate Virginia. At the matinees 
Mr. James and Miss Wainwright appeared in Romeo and Juliet and 
Much Ado about Nothing, plays given mainly for the sake of pre- 
senting Miss Wainwright in roles more prominent than that she had 
in Virginius. 

On the last day of January, a new play was presented at the 
Globe, Caught in a Corner, which M. B. Curtis had originally 
brought out in Williamsburg, N. Y., Oct, 4, 1886. As the title 
indicates, a risky operator is " caught in a corner " of wheat. The 
sleek good natured Jewish hero, a hero of middle age this time, 
breaks up the comer in order to save his old friend. The piece is 
a noisy farce tinctured with tame melodrama, and was but fairly well 
acted. 



^t^ February . ^^ 



Boucicault's Fin Mac Cool. — Elixir of Love by the Ideat,s. — 
Joseph Haworth in Hoodman Blind. — Lorraine. — Marga- 
ret Mather IN London Assurance. — Rosina Yokes in The 
Schoolmistress. — Mrs. Langtry in Lady Clancarty. 

HEN Mr. Boucicault with a flourish of trumpets announced 
his intention of favoring Boston with the first hearing of 
a new play on which he had been at work, keen interest was 
awakened, for the comedies of this veteran author are " standard " 
on the American stage. But as the story of the new piece leaked 
out, old theatre-goers began to probe their memory for the originals of 
various incidents, and finally when the play was brought out at the 
HoUis Street Theatre, they had no difficulty in discovering that it 
was a revised version of Boucicault's Be//e Lamar, v/hich was a drama 
first heard in this city at the Boston Theatre, Oct. 12, 1874. Be//e 
Lamar was written for John McCuUough, but in Boston L, R. 
Shewell played the role designed for Mr. McCullough, while 
xMexander Fitzgerald, C. Leslie Allen, Gustavus Levick, George W. 
Wilson, Dan. Maguinnis (who played also in the revival at the 
Hollis Street), Mrs. Thomas Barry and Miss Olivia Rand were in 
the cast. 

Fin Mac Cool, as the new version was called, was given on the 
evening of Thursday, P'ebruary 3. The first and last acts occur in 



188;]. Fin Mac Cool. 21 

Newport, the second and third being laid in the Shenandoah Valley 
during the war of the rebellion. Isabel Bligh, the wife of Philip 
Bligh, an officer in the United States army, possesses all that 
passionate devotion for her native State that characterized the 
woman of the South during the war, and when the first guns are 
fired she seeks to lead her husband to throw up his commission and 
join the Confederacy. But he remains firm to his duty. Isabel, 
however, with her warmth of temperament will not stay at the North 
but, leaving her husband, flies to the South, hoping also that he, in 
his love, will follow. Along with her goes Katie, her Irish servant, 
the sweetheart of Fin, and the departure of this Celtic lass is the 
incident that induces the immigrant boy, arriving in America just 
before Katie has started South, to follow, as a soldier, his colleen. 
The flight of Isabel is dramatic in character, since she goes upon a 
United States vessel, which has been seized by Chauncey Lamar, a 
Southern gentleman, and his associates, and which, as it sails out of 
the harbor, comes under the guns of the fort, only to be saved from 
destruction by Fin's learning that his Katie is on board and his 
refusal, in consequence, to give the signal to fire. PhiHp leads his 
troops to the Shenandoah and there unexpectedly meets his wife, 
who is taken as a female spy. Lamar, too, is captured and con- 
demned to death, but is saved by Fin lending him his military coat. 
The ultimate action of the play proves to Philip the innocence of 
his wife and the couple are reunited. Meanwhile Fin has been 
tumbled about this way and that blundering ahead in search of his 
sweetheart and giving to the play the element of comedy that the 
Irish characters of Mr. Boucicault can so well create. 

The play is practically a series of incidents rather than a closely 
knit story while the character of Fin has so little genuine connection 
with the central idea that if he had been cut out entirely the fact would 
not have been noticed. The piece is not the equal in construction 
of Mr. Boucicault's well known popular plays and lacks the constant 
flow of bright wit that marks his Irish comedies. It was, however, 
admirably acted by a strong company, Mr. Boucicault himself find- 
ing in the good natured, simple hearted Irish immigrant-boy one of 
those characters that he can so cleverly delineate. 

On February 4, Donizetti's Adina or the Elixir of Love was 



22 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [February, 

revived at the Boston Theatre by the Ideal Opera Company ; this 
organization first giving the work March 15, 1886, in Chicago. 
The bright, melodious opera proved one of the chief successes of 
the engagement, M'lle De Lussan and Messrs.^ Bamabee, Karl and 
Clark carrying very well the leading roles. 

There were two points of interest about the performance at the 
Park Theatre on the night of February 7th. One was the return, 
as a " feature" if not as an entire " star ", of Joseph Haworth, 
formerly of the Museum Company and afterward leading man of 
John McCullough, to this city, where he has always been regarded 
with something akin to " home " interest, and the other was the pro- 
duction, for the first time in Boston, of Hoodman Blind^ the play 
written by Henry Arthur Jones and Wilson Barrett for the latter joint 
author and actor. The drama was originally brought out August, 
1885 at Mr. Barrett's theatre. The Princess's in London. It was 
given its first American production at Wallack's Theatre, New 
York, during the season of 1885 -'86, but then failed to win 
success. 

The story deals with the separation of the hero, Jack Yeulett, 
from his wife, Nance, through the machinations of an enemy, Mark 
Lezi'.ard, a man whom Jack had beaten in the contest of love. 
Mark shows the husband what appears to be his wife in the arms of 
a gipsy lover, and when Jack afterwards takes Nance to task for 
this and she persistently denies the calumny, the deluded husband., 
angered at the supposed guilt and hardihood of his wife, leaves 
the village and becomes a Avanderer in London. There one day 
upon the banks of the River Thames he sees a poor, degraded 
creature throwing herself into the water to end her miserable 
existence. He saves the woman, called Jess, from this self-destruc- 
tion, and then, to his astonishment, learns that she is the sister of 
the wronged wife, and that she impersonated Nance at the time of 
the meeting with the gipsy. Her resemblance to her sister made 
it easy to play the part, especially as the gipsy was her lover. Jess 
dies, but Jack and Nance are reunited, and that everything may come 
out well in the good old-fashioned style, the villains are meted out 
their proper punishment, so that while virtue is rewarded, vice 
sufTers. 



188/]. HoobMAN Blind — Lorraine. 23 

Hoodman Blind is a melodrama of the truly heroic class. There 
is no sham about its construction. No startling point is strained to 
bring in realism ; no situation cast away to allow natural results. It 
is a melodrama pure and simple, out and out. The strength of the 
play lies in its climaxes ; its weakness lies in the monotonous level of 
its ordinary scenes. The tale deals with the lower middle classes of 
England, compressing within its compas-i: enough events to fill out 
the lives of a dozen village populations, beginning with a murder 
and a conspiracy and keeping up the flow of crime, with corres- 
ponding touches of misery, until very near the end, introducing 
only a few attempts at lightness and those very weak. The climaxes, 
though, are remarkably strong and effective, and as they are not 
infrequent, the play has attractions for the lovers of sensationalism. 

Mr. Haworth's impersonation of the hero was brimming with fire 
and enthusiasm and in keeping with the melodramatic story. He 
relied, however, more upon his finely modulated voice and impas- 
sioned action than upon delicacy of facial expression. Mr. 
Haworth had changed the part in a number of respects from the 
original, especially by cutting down the long speeches. 

Lorraine, Rudolph Bellinger's latest opera, was presented for the 
first time in Boston at the Globe Theatre on the 14th, of February. 
The work was first given to the public in October, 1886, at the 
theatre in Hamburg, where young Bellinger presides as musical 
director. It was the second opera of the composer, his first one, 
Don Ccesar, having been successfully brought out some time 
before. Lorraiiie had its initial production in America at Chicago 
about six weeks previous to its Boston production. 

The story of the opera is as follows : Louis XIV. of France 
while at his hunting castle becomes much interested in a young 
man named Lorraine, who visits the court in order to find out the 
mystery of his parentage. He had been told by his mother that his 
father, whom he never knew, was of noble birth, and so he goes 
with his foster father, Pierre, (who had seen the real father once) to 
Louis's court to find out what he can. At the same time Gaspard, a 
nobleman of high position but of limited mental capacities, visits the 
castle with his wife, Oudarde, and his niece Madeleine. Everybody 
becomes fascinated with the lovely niece, and Lorraine, too, yields 



24 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [February, 

to her charms. But Gaspard, anxious to be friends with all, 
promises the girl's hand to every man who asks, and thereby gets 
into endless trouble. Meanwhile Lorraine steps forward and wins 
Madeleine's love, and to make things end well it is discovered that 
the hero is really the son of Louis XIIL, and the King, while he 
conceals the father's name, yet announces that Lorraine is of high 
birth and places him where he belongs, in the peerage. 

The opera is of the serio-comic order, and in its text dull, heavy 
and uninteresting. The music, however is bright and graceful 
enough to win acceptance and on this feature its merit depends. 
Miss Gertrude Griswold, the prima donna, taking the part of Mad- 
eleine made her first appearance in Boston and though her voice was 
light and inflexible, yet she proved an agreeable singer so far as 
quality of tone was concerned. J^liss Emily Soldene returned to 
Boston to impersonate in Lorraine an " old woman " character. 

The role of Lady Gay Spanker in Lo7idon Assurance was assumed 
by Margaret Mather for the first time in Boston on the evening of 
the 2ist of February, at the Boston Theatre. Miss Mather brought 
beauty, vivacity, high spirits and intelligence to the impersonation, 
elements that can readily make Lady Gay acceptable at all times. 

A. W. Pinero's farce TJie Schoolmistress^ a new piece for Boston, 
opened the engagement of Rosina Yokes and her company of semi- 
amateurs at the Park Theatre on February 28. Its first American 
production was at Cleveland, Ohio, Oct. 11, 1886. A farce in every 
respect is this work, and all things about it are of the dashing, 
rollicking order. The story is very simple. The heroine is Peggy 
Hesslerigge, an articled pupil in a fashionable young ladies' boarding 
school. The Principal, Miss Dyott, has succeeded in marrying a 
real, genuine member of a noble family, Hon. Yere Queckett, who, 
however, though a "gentleman," is decidedly attached to himself 
above all others and is ready to make his way pleasant through 
life by drawing on his wife's money. She, in order to increase her 
diminishing store, determines to use her voice in opera, and that 
the proud relatives on the husband's side may not be shocked at 
such a proceeding, the venturesome amateur does not even tell her 
spouse what her purpose is when she leaves the seminary, but pre- 
tends she is going to visit a friend in the country. Peggy is left in 



188;]. The Schoolmistress — Lady Clancarty. 25 

charge of the household, and that froHcsome young lady, having 
learned that Hon Mr. Queckett is going to celebrate, on the evening 
after his wife's departure, by a little supper to which some naval 
officers are invited, compels the Hon. Vere to invite the pupils 
including, of course, Peggy herself, to the banquet. This brings on 
a comphcation, for the house catches fire, Mr. Quickett's wife 
returns unexpectedly, and there is a general consternation and 
complication of situations. Some of the funny business of the play 
depends on another complication. Dinah Rankling has been so long 
a pupil at the school that her father. Admiral Rankling, doesn't recog- 
nize her when he sees her at the little banquet, and as she has secretly 
married a young fellow, Reginald Paulover, some mixed-up 
incidents are brought about thereby. 

The whole piece resolves itself into this confusion of fun, making 
a lively entertainment of just that kind to tickle the risibles of in- 
dividuals who delight in complications and care nothing for sense. 
If the auditor looks for anything deep or delicate in construction he 
will fail to find it in The Schoolmistress. As Miss Vokes herself said 
of the piece ; " It is nothing but a piece of nonsense, of course, 
but thoroughly clever, and what is better still, pure nonsense." Miss 
Vokes impersonated the part of Peggy with just that " bounce " and 
superabundance of animal spirits that befit the character, and even 
if at times she seemed excessively exuberant, yet there was so much 
of natural drollery to her acting in the most of the play that she 
made the part a taking one both to the thinking and the unthinking. 

Mrs. Langtry appeared in the title role of Tom Taylor's Lady 
Clancarty for the first time in Boston at the Boston Theatre on the 
28th of February. Her initial appearance in the part had been at 
Chicago a short time previous. The play was not new to Boston 
though a number of years had elapsed since its last hearing. Then 
George Rignold appeared in the drama. Miss Ada Cavendish and 
Thomas W. Keene, as well as Miss Annie Clarke and Charles Barron 
at the Museum, had also played the leading characters here. Tom 
Taylor's Lady Clancarty was originally produced at the Olympic 
Theatre, London, March 9, 1874, by Miss Ada Cavendish as Lady 
Clancarty, Henry Neville as Lord Clancarty, W. H. Vernon as Lord 
Spencer and Charles Sugden as King William. The story briefly 



26 



The Playgoers' Year-Book. [February. 



told runs in this way : Lord Clancarty and the daughter of the 
Earl of Sunderland were married in youth, and having immediately 
parted do not know each other when next they meet, ten years 
afterwards. On this later occasion they fall in love with each other 
and are finally happily reunited, the wife having testified her devo- 
tion by pleading before King William for the pardon of Clancarty 
who has been arrested as a traitor because of political complication 
and the husband displaying commendatory bravery and love for 
his lady. 

Mrs. Langtry appeared to good advantage in this play by reason 
of her beauty and dignity, so eminently befitting the romance of the 
chief character. With much of the amateur in her performance she 
yet brought out with effect the dramatic scenes of the play, notably 
in the bed-chamber scene when Lord Clancarty seeks shelter there 
and then first discloses that he is her husband, and in the scene 
before the King where she pleads for her husband's safety. 




MRS. J. R. VINCENT, 



Born in Portsmouth, England, Sept. i8, 1818; died in Boston, Sept. 4, 1S87. 



/SJ , ^> 

^■ g March. g -^ 



Antoinette Rigaud at the Museum. — A Double Lesson and A 
Game of Cards. — Genevieve Ward in The Queen's Fav- 
orite. — The Gypsy Baron. 

TT was remarkable, indeed, for the chronicle of the third play of 
T the season at the Boston Museum to be dated March 7, yet the 
' phenomenal runs of the first two attractions of the year. Harbor 
Lights with its 137 performance and Held by the Enemy with its 
eighty-one performances, had postponed Antoinette Rigaud until the 
Spring date. Raymond Deslandes's Antoinette Rigaud had never 
been heard in America previous to the Museum production. It was 
originally brought out at the Comedie Francaise, Paris, Sept. 30, 
1885, and there ran for forty nights, a remarkable run at that theatre, 
where frequent changes are the rule. The text was translated into 
English by Ernest Warren and given by Mr. and Mrs. Kendall at 
the St. James' Theatre, London, Feb. 13, 1886. Its story goes as 
follows : The heroine, who bears the name of the title, is the sister 
of Capt. Henri De Tourvel and is the wife of the wealthy M. Rigaud. 
She undertakes the task of obtaining from Gen. De Prefond his consent 
to the marriage of his daughter Marie with the gallant Captain. De 
Tourvel is the orderly of the general, and much liked by the old 
officer, but the latter, having seen his own wife, unable to bear the 
trials of war, pass away, had vowed at her death-bed never to allow 



28 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [March, 

his daughter to become a soldier's bride. Henri cannot give up his 
commission ; he is too poor. And thus the case stands when Antoi- 
nette takes hold. But she, too, has a delicate love affair to manage. 
An artist, Paul Sannoy, has painted her picture, and with his impul- 
sive, romantic mind has fallen in love with the young wife, but the 
affair had gone no farther than an exchange of letters. Meeting 
Paul afterwards by chance at the General's house, she requests of 
him her letters, and he out of honest regard for her as well as friend- 
ship for her brother who had saved his life, promises to return the 
notes. But he is unfortunate in his efforts to remove all suspicious 
evidence against the lady, and nearly compromises her badly, for 
just as he is leaving Antoinette's apartments, after having received 
from her a medallion as a token of friendship that can go no farther, 
who should knock at the door but M. Rigaud himself. A situation 
is imminent. Then the quickwitted Antoinette hides her lover, and 
after getting her husband into another room opens the door, while 
Paul hastens to escape. The hall doors are locked, and his only 
way lies through the room of Marie De Prefond. Quickly he opens 
the window, slips out and is away. The servants, however, have 
seen him scaling the wall and arouse the house with the alarm of 
burglars. M. Rigaud declares he saw a man coming from the 
window of Marie's room. Then Gen. De Prefond thinks he sees 
through the millstone. Henri, he declares, has been trying to com- 
promise Marie in order to compel her father to allow the marriage. 
A proof of this, as he thinks, lies in the medallion of Henri's sister, 
which had been dropped in the room. The noble-hearted brother 
comprehends the plight that his sister is in and accepts the guilt. 
But Antoinette will not suffer this. She lets Marie's father understand 
the true import of Henri's act, and then when the Captain shows 
his resignation from military life the old veteran can no longer hold 
out but gives the young man his daughter and makes the two happy, 
while Antoinette returns to her dutiful, if not the happiest, Hfe with- 
out a shade upon her character, M. Rigaud having no inkhng of the 
true state of affairs. 

Antoinette Rigaud is prettily written though it has no especial 
salient witticism. The opening scene is inclined towards slowness 
but afterwards the story is told with stronger dramatic effect, and 



188;]. A Double Lesson — A Game of Cards. 29 

though the general idea of the plot is far from novel, yet the 
strength of the climax, the self-sacrifice of the noble brother, is a 
telling feature. The comedy on the whole is light and without "stay- 
ing" powers. Mr. Vanderfelt as Henri found little to do until the last 
scene, wherein he takes the guilt of his sister upon himself; then he 
was strong, manly and sincere. Miss Evesson, while lacking in 
voice and power of action, redeemed her Antoinette by earnestness 
and naturalness. Miss Crai^i^en portrayed Marie in a way that fully 
indicated the pure girl's character. Mr. Coulter's honest, open- 
hearted Mr. Rigaud was excellent even if rough. Mr. Burbeck, as 
the artist lover, failed to make the most of his part. Mr. Hudson 
especially succeeded in the bluffer portions of Gen. De Prefond's 
action. 

Rosina Vokes's second new piece for Boston, B. C. Stephenson's 
A Double Lesson, was brought out March 7, at the Park. The 
story of this one act comedy is that of an actress, Miss St. Almond, 
giving a double lesson to her husband and to her amateur pupil Lady 
Moncrieffe, who are becoming dangerously attached to one another. 
Miss Yokes as Miss St. Almond found opportunity for dancing and 
singing and droll burlesquing in her well known manner. 

On the 9th of March, A Game of Cards, a little one-act comedy, 
was brought out at the Park, for the first time in Boston, by 
members of Miss Vokes's company. Chevalier De Rocheferrier and 
M. Mercier become angry over a game of cards, refuse consent to 
their children's marriage, and then make up, the former gentleman 
having been convinced the quarrel was a dream. 

The Queen'' s Favot'ite, that Genevieve Ward gave for the first 
time in Boston during this month, may rightly be characterized as a 
duel of wits. There is little in the way of plot ; the entire interest 
centres upon the sarcasm on the tongues' tips of the two prominent 
characters, the brilliancy of their minds, and the results of the 
clashing of these forcible characteristics. The characters alluded to 
are historical personages, and many of their acts upon the stage are 
recorded in the histories of the past, but no attempt is made at sys- 
tematic accuracy or at complete recording. Sarah Jennings, 
Duchess of Marlborough, one of the great Churchill family, is the 
woman whose mind forms one foil in the subtle battle, while the 



30 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [March, 

opposing weapon is possesssed by Henry St. John, Viscount Bohng- 
broke, the statesman, orator and writer of Queen Anne's day. 
There is flash after flash in the duel, sharp clashing and bright sparks 
scintillating between the two whenever there is collision, and this is 
the life of the play, in fact the play, the entire play itself. 

How witty, especially, are the remarks of Bjlingbroke. "The 
Churchills," he says, "never draw the sword — they only draw their 
salary." He is called upon for action and yet cannot very well take 
action at that moment. What will he do ? "I will do as other 
statesmen do," he says, " talk like the devil." So he declares with 
force, " A politician who loves anybody but himself is lost," and 
"Women are always suspicious of their own sex — they understand 
it better than we do." He is chided for crowing before he is out of 
the woods ; " It's never too soon to rejoice," he affirms in response. 

Each of the two opponents is seeking to control Queen Anne. 
The Duchess has the reins in her hand at the beginning, and St. 
John, striving to effect peace in Europe by bringing England's 
Queen and France's King into friendship, is restrained by the power 
of the woman. If he can but gain his point then he will become 
Prime Minister, and the virtual regents the Duke and Duchess of 
Marlborough, will be dethroned. St. John succeeds in having 
x\bigail Hill appointed maid-of-honor to the Queen, by finding out 
that her cousin, the Duchess, had exerted herself so much in 
behalf of Abigail's lover, Lieut. Masham (who had slain in a duel 
St. John's cousin) as to place Her Grace in a position that by slight 
misinterpretation could be compromising. This is a point gained, 
since the young maid afterwards, as Lady Masham, even supplants 
the Duchess in favoritism with the Queen, being also an instrument 
in the hands of St. John and Harley, the leaders of the moderate 
Tories. St. John, or Bolingbroke as he became after the death of 
his cousin, obtains the much desired invitation to the reception for 
the French Ambassador by informing the Duchess of a signal (the 
asking for a glass of water) that is to delay Masham after other 
guests have gone and so bring together in conference the Queen and 
the two lovers. Who has not heard the story of the famous glass of 
water spilled on her Majesty's dress, the glass of water that brought 
about the great Peace of Utrecht? Then comes the illustration of 



1887]. The Queen's Favorite. 31 

the importance of little things upon which Bolingbroke so often 
dilates. A glass of water has brought success to Bolingbroke. The 
want of a drop of ink checks him, almost checkmates him, for, 
while he is searching for the ink with which the vacillating Queen 
may sign the paper that will set him at the head and force away his 
rival, the Duchess herself gains admittance to Anne's presence, and 
by explanations regarding her interest for Masham and by the beg- 
ging of pardon, delays the movement of her opponent. But 
Bolingbroke at last wins the game, playing upon the jealousies of the 
two women, and the entertainment of the hour is at an end. 

A clever but unscrupulous man is the Bolingbroke of history, and 
so he is in the play. If not his selfish outlook for personal welfare, 
at least the absence of sincerity and of honest statesmanship in the 
care of the nation is strongly pictured in the stage portrait. All the 
grace of person and brilliancy of intellect is shown, and other 
attributes are added to make the character more pleasing to the 
observer. The chief characteristic of the Duchess of Marlborough, 
as the record of other days transcribes it, was power of will and 
superiority of mental talents. This, too, is the prevailing trait in the 
stage heroine, and though she ultimately loses, as she did in fact, 
still throughout the action of the plot there is manifest that keenness 
and strength which denominates the woman destined to be a pre- 
vailing factor in shaping the course of events around her. 

Eugene Scribe's Le Verre tV Eau, originally brought out at the 
Theatre Francais in 1840, has served as the basis for several EngHsh 
adaptations ; for The Maid of Honor produced at the Adelphi, 
London, in Oct. 1841, for The Triple Alliance, produced at the 
Princess's, London, in Nov., 1862, and for The Queen^s Favorite, 
produced by Miss Genevieve Ward at the Olympic, London, June 2, 
1883. This latter version, adapted by Sidney Grundy, was brought 
to America by Miss Ward and given its first production in the 
United States in San Francisco, March 18, 1886. Boston first heard 
it March 14, 1887, at the Park Theatre. Miss Ward's portrayal of 
the Duchess was chiefly a study of the mind. It was decisive and 
intellectually clear, with much artifice but with that artifice guided in 
so clever a way as never to be obtrusive. Mr. Vernon invested 
Bolingbroke with naturalness and consistency and painted the part in 



32 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [March 



i 



such alluring colors as to make the easy, graceful, good-natured man 
of wits a captivating character. 

At the HolUs Street on the 14th of March the latest comic opera 
of Johann Strauss, The Gypsy Baron, was given its first Boston 
production. Its original performance was in Vienna in November, 
1885. The 15 th of February, 1886, saw its first production in 
America at the New York Casino. The book of the opera is based 
upon a novelette of Moritz J okay, the Hungarian author, and was 
arranged by Julius Schnitzer. The story brings out a romantic picture 
of Hungarian gypsy life, with a homoeopathic mixture of pig-dealer's 
business. The hero, Barinkay, is poor ; that is, he inherits the pos- 
sessions of his father, who, having been sent away to exile, could not 
keep his property in what a New Englander would call " apple pie 
order," and so left a rather dilapidated old castle and fields of doubt- 
ful value to his heir. Barinkay sees Arsena — to be sure she is a pig- 
dealer's daughter, but the pig-dealer is a man of wealth and Arsena 
is a girl of beauty — so he falls in love with her. But the young 
maiden fears that her great-grandfathers would turn in their graves 
if she married beneath her, so she calls upon her lover to present the 
title of Baron before he claims her hand. Hero Barinkay becomes a 
Baron in this way : the gypsies make him their Wajwod. which, 
being translated, signifies Baron. But Arsena says that isn't just 
what she meant. Thereupon Wajwod Barinkay declares that what 
he means is that since he sued for the hand of the pig dealer's 
daughter he has met Saffi, the guileless gypsy maid, and that he has 
transferred his affection to the untutored lass of the nomads. So 
far so good, but better follows. Safii finds a long lost treasure, which 
turns out to have been hidden by Barinkay's parent, and then in the 
same act it is announced by an old gypsy woman that Saffi is really 
the daughter of the late Pasha in Hungary. Her Highness, of course, 
is then far above Hero Barinkay, so away he goes to the war for 
fame, gets it, and then returns at the head of the troops and is ac- 
cepted as the husband of the Princess Saffi. The opera is bright 
and charming in music and was acted and sung commendably well 
by the Conreid Opera Company. 



THE THEATRE. 




leciTj^s Jj(zwis QLTjd ItJps. i^ilbepf. 



OF AUGUSTIN DALY'S COMPANY. 



^f APRIL. ZII^ 



Wilson Barrett in Lady of Lyons. — Ruddygore. — Sarah Bern- 
hardt IN Fedora and Theodora. — The Flirt. — George 
Riddle in The Earl. — Passing Shadows. — Fanny Davenport 
IN Much Ado About Nothing. — Mme. Janauschek in Meg 
Merrilies. 

fHE dramatic events of April opened on the ist with a presen- 
tation of the Lady of Lyons at the Globe by Wilson Barrett, 
the interest of the performance lying in the fact that this was 
the first time the English actor had played Claude Melnotte in 
America. His Claude is constructed in the same design that wrought 
out his Chatterton ; a display in almost precisely similar manner of 
a high strung, sensitive nature, a lofty spirit and an elevation of soul. 
He was superficial but personally magnetic. Miss Eastlake played 
Pauhne for the first time on any stage. In the later scenes, after the 
romantic girl's character has been strengthened by trial, she best met 
the requirements of the part. In the earlier scenes she lacked the 
show of innocent inexperience. 

The production of a new Gilbert and Sullivan opera has become 
an event now in theatrical circles but unfortunately the latest work 
of the two writers, Ruddygore, failed to reach the standard of popu- 
lar favor and its short run at the Globe Theatre, beginning April 4, 
was probably its last as well as its first hearing in Boston. 



34 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [April, 

Ruddygore is intended as a burlesque on the old melodrama. Sir 
Rupert Murgatroyd, of Ruddygore Castle, by burning a witch at the 
stake has brought upon his family a terrible curse, to wit : 

Each lord of Ruddygore, This doom he can't defy 

Despite his host endeavour. However he may try, 

Shall do O' e crime, or nioi-e, For should lie stay 

Once, every day, for ever! His hand, that day 

In torture he shall die 

The present representative of the family, in order to escape the 
dreadful penalties of the curse, has fled his ancestral hall and taken 
refuge under the name of Robin Oakapple in a little village. There 
he falls in love with a guileless maiden, Rose Maybud, whose chief 
characteristic is an unceasing devotion to the rules of her etiquette 
book. For instance she receives an offer of marriage frcxn Dick 
Dauntless, in this way : 

Rose (aside) — Now, how should a maiden deal with such an 
one? (Consults book.) "Keep no one in unnecessary suspense." 
(Aloud.) Behold, I will not keep you in unnecessary suspense. 
(Refers to book.) ' In accepting an offjr of marriage, do so with 
apparent hesitation." (Aloud.) I take you, but with a certain show 
of reluctance. (Refers to book.) " Avoid any appearance of eager- 
ness." (Aloud.) Though you vvill bear in mind that I am far from 
anxious to do so. (Refers to book.) " A little show of emotion will 
not be misplaced." (Aloud.) Pardon these tears. (Wipes her 
eyes.) 

Meanwhile the younger brother of the Ruddygore heir discovers 
Sir Ruthven, ahas Robin, and compels him to return to the castle 
and accept the curse. The second act is set in the portrait gallery 
of the Murgatroyd mansion. Sir Ruthven commits an act of good- 
ness. Suddenly the ancestors step from their frames and stand 
around the luckless modern representative. They blame him for 
committing no crime that day and declare that he must abduct a 
maiden. Accordingly Sir Ruthven plans to seize Dame Hannah, 
the aunt of Rose Maybud. Meanwhile his brother, now changed 
from a wicked baronet to a good Methodist, enters with his lady who 
turns out to be Mad Margaret, a crazy girl whose burlesque of Ophe- 
ha in the opening act had displayed her madness. Dame Hannah is 
brought in but is saved from Sir Ruthven by her own pugnacious 



1887]. RUDDYGORE. 35 

valor and by the declaration of one of the ancestors who recognizes 
the spinster of uncertain age as his ovvn sweetheart. At last Ruth- 
ven shows that he does not merit the curse, since all the ancestors 
committed suicide out of dread of the curse and therefore they 
need not have died and consequently, to all practical purposes, are 
not dead, — and with this the opera ends. 

The first act of Ruddygore is in many respects a typical Gilbert- 
Sullivan construction. There are numerous bright melodies for the 
music and a number of sharp witticisms for the text. The general 
strain of dialogue is not so subtly humorous as the Gilbert text of 
former works, but every now and then will be heard one of those 
doubly turned sentences that so tickle the fancy, a kind of punning 
phrase corresponding to the punning word, but far more effective and 
not so monotonous. The second act, however, has little except 
some very broad burlesque on the traditional melodrama, so broad as 
at times to be farcical and it includes very few musical numbers. 
The first part of this act is excessively dreary. 

Of the characters, two are excellent burlesques, Robin, of the 
bashful young man, and Rose, of the demure devotee to rules of 
etiquette. The others are not so impressively defined. The intro- 
duction of Mad Margaret is out of harmony with the remainder of 
the work. The part was well sung by Miss Alice Carle in Boston. 
Miss Helen Lamont made an ideal modest village maiden in the char- 
acter of Rose, while Charles Reed held his burlesque of the emotional 
Robin in proper restraint and with considerable quiet humor. Mr. 
Phil Bronson danced extremely well as Richard Dauntless, the man- 
o'-war's man. Sig. Brocohni excelled in his methodical bad-man- 
made-good in the second act. 

Ruddygore was originally brought out at the Savoy Theatre, 
London, Jan. 22, 1887, and had its first American hearing at the 
Fifth Avenue, New York, February 21, (with Geraldine Ulmer, 
George Thorne, Courtice Pounds, Fred Bellington. Kate Forster and 
Elsie Cameron in the cast.) 

Mme. Sarah Bernhardt returning to Boston after a six years' 
absence appeared at the HoUis Street Theatre in five different plays 
but in three her impersonations were familiar. The other two plays, 
Fedo7'a and Theodora, both by Sardou, were known through the 



36 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [April, 

productions in English by Miss Fannie Davenport and Miss Lillian 
Olcott respectively. Miss Davenport's Fedora was first heard in 
Boston, April 28, 1884; Bernhardt appeared in the play April 4, 
1887. Miss Olcott's Theodora was first heard here Nov. 29, 1886 ; 
Mme. Bernhardt appeared in the play, April 8, 1887. In each of 
these plays the French actress displayed to highest advantage her 
strength of powerful action and intensity of emotional action and 
gave a keener perception of her genius than in any other roles of 
the season. Mme. Bernhardt regards Theodora as one of her favor- 
ite pieces, some of the characters, in her estimation, being almost 
Shakespearean yet the title role she considers the most difficult im- 
personation she ever essayed. 

The Flirt, a new play in the repertoire of Mr. and Mrs. W. J. 
Florence, was first heard in Boston at the Park Theatre, April 8. 
The hero, Sylvester Sparks, is an athletic dude who is continually 
winning the hearts of the fairer sex. Mrs. Diana Lovington is a 
dashing widow with whom Mr. Sparks is inclined to flirt. Mixed up 
letters cause complications, which are funnily wrought out in the old, 
old way, making a laughable farce, and nothing more. Mr. and Mrs. 
Florence carried the roles of Sparks and Mrs. Lovington in their 
usual peculiar style. 

Edgar Fawcett's five act play in blank verse. The Earl, an exten- 
ded dramatization of one of his poems "Alan Eliot," received its 
first production on any stage at the Hollis Street Theatre, April 11, 
and the occasion marked the appearance of George Riddle, the 
reader, as a star actor. The story oi'The Earl is one of crime 
caused by love and of subsequent remorse. Edmund, Earl of Cleve- 
den, has met in the past for a few brief times a lovely maid, un- 
known to him by name as he also to her, and this fair girl has 
become his ideal. Living in a secluded castle with his books alone 
he yet cherishes the memory of this maiden. When bis brother. 
Lord Hubert, seeks the consent of the Earl to marriage with Lad} 
Marion, daughter of Lord Falkstane, Edmund frowns upon the al- 
liance because of suspicion that Marian's father is allied with Mon- 
mouth against the King. Marian is brought before the Earl that her 
sweet face may move him to relent and then it is found that she is 
really the heroine of Edmund's long devotion. The lady would 



i8<S7]. Fedora — The Earl. 37 

marry Hubert, however, and the complication leads to a quarrel 
between the brothers. Hubert follows his brother to the seashore 
and there by the side of a lonely cave offers the duelling sword to 
Edmund. The more expert older brother disarms Lord Hubert, 
spares his life and leaves him. Hubert, seeking shelter from the 
storm in the cave, is entoinbed within by the sudden falling of a 
huge boulder. Startled by the crash Edmund returns and at first 
would save his brother, but then, remembering that with Hubert out 
of the way Lady Marian may be his, he leaves the young man to his 
fate. The marriage follows, for Lord Falkstane is only too glad of 
this great alliance, especially as his own head is now in danger for 
political reasons. But terrible remorse has seized upon the Earl 
and he can rest in peace neither by day nor night. Even before the 
wedding an old retainer discovers the secret of Lord Hubert's death by 
a visit to the cave and Edmund is well nigh distraught for fear of 
exposure : but sudden death removes the aged servant just as he is 
about to speak. After the marriage remorse works even more upon 
the Earl and at all hours he hears ringing in his ears the cry for help 
that last came from his brother's lips. In sleep Edmund half con- 
fesses his crime to his wife and when in a fit of somnambulism he 
sets forth for the cave she follows him, hears his self-incriminating 
words by the huge rock and then awakens him. With the full horror 
of the situation thus suddenly forced upon him in the presence of 
a witness, and she the woman whom he adores, Edmund falls pros- 
trate at her feet and in the agony of his soul's affliction expires. 

The Eai^l w^ould make a good reading play if cut down. There 
are many poetic lines of beauty, and there is the melancholy 
romance pervading all that suits the author's muse. In its stage rep- 
resentation, however, it drags slovenly along for the first part, and in 
the opening acts has too little dramatic intensity. The last two acts 
are stronger by reason of the situations in them, but they also have 
the faults of slow and over extended dialogue. There is a great 
amount of narrative that clogs the action and there is too much ex- 
plained to the audience after every auditor has fully understood the 
fact. These points militate against general popular favor. Of the 
acting of Mr. Riddle in the part of Edmund, Earl of Cleveden, it 
may be interesting to quote two extremely differing opinions. H. A. 



38 . The Playgoers' Year-Book. [April, 

Clapp said : " Mr. Riddle is utterly unequal to the task of em- 
bodying it [a conception of Edmund] in declamation and action. 
Tliat Mr. Riddle has fine moments is true ; the contrary would 
not be possible. But Sir Edmund in the total is indefinitely too 
much for him, and his impersonation as a whole is tiresome, spas- 
modic and ineffectual. And Mr. Riddle need not be much disturbed 
if he is found unable to achieve the impossible." Edgar Fawcett, 
the author of the play, in a letter to the press which aroused much 
discussion, said : " Mr. Riddle possesses distinction, force, elegance, 
scholarship and a voice full of the sweetest, richest, most sympa- 
thetic melody. His scholarly gravity in the first act, followed by 
keen and almost horrified dismay when he discovers that Lady 
Marian, the betrothed of his brother, is the woman whom he has 
loved devotedly literally brims with intelligence and charm. His 
love scene is an exquisite rendition. His entire third act is masterly 
in its dignity and beauty." Mr. Fawcett stated also that he ranked 
The Eai'l far above any work he had so far given to the stage, this 
declaration being called out by the unanimous condemnation of 
the piece as an acting play, by the critics of the Boston press. 

John A. Stevens's Passing Shadows, which was given its first pro- 
duction in this city at the Boston Theatre, April ii, was in reality a 
revised version of Her Second Love, a drama by Mr. Stevens that 
was formerly given with Maude Granger in the leading role. The 
scene is laid in Russia where two Counts, Ivan DemidofT and Fedor 
Petrovik, are rivals for a cottage maiden, Olga by name. Ivan wins, 
but by his subsequent scandalous behavior alienates his wife and 
finally is killed, leaving the other two characters free for prospect- 
ive marriage. 

The play is somewhat over-spiced for a refined stage and has few 
remarkable features about it. It was well acted, the author himself 
appearing as Count Ivan. 

Miss Fanny Davenport appeared in the character of Beatrice in 
Much Ado about Nothing for the first time in Boston on the 14th 
of April at the Park Theatre, having taken up that role only the 
previous Autumn. Her impersonation was one of great merit, ex- 
celling especially in the expression of Beatrice's love of bright 
humor. So pleased was Miss Davenport at the success of this en- 



1887]. Much Ado about Nothing. 39 

gagement that she wrote a public letter to the dramatic critics ex- 
pressing her thanks for the warm endorsement of Boston and adding 
" I hope your high praise will only give me greater incentive to 
better work. My engagement has not only been profitable but has 
won for me that which all true artists strive for — an entire 
acknowledgment from the Boston press." 

Meg Merrilics, made famous by Charlotte Cushman, was revived 
by Mme. Janauschek at the Park Theatre, April 25th, that actress 
appearing in the title role for the first time in Boston. She gave 
this dramatization of Scott's " Guy Mannering " for the first time in 
this country a few weeks previous. Her success in Boston was at 
once accorded. Mme. Janauschek's impersonation was effective in 
its direct force. There was little approach to pathos in her inter- 
pretation, either in expression of love for Bertram or in the death 
scene, nor was the uncanny weirdness of the hag made prominent, 
but the leading feature presented was that of the power of strong, 
independent will in the gypsy queen. 



-^-i" 

^^4 



May, 



S 



■^ 



[tm, the Penman. — Richard Mansfield in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. 
Hyde. — On the Rio Grande. — Love in Harness. — Taming 
OF THE Shrew. — Little Jack Sheppard. 

fHE closing month of the busy theatrical season saw three of 
the most prominent productions of the year, besides three 
minor novelties. Ji^n, tlie Peninan, was brought out for the 
first time in Boston at the Park Theatre, May 2, by the Madison 
Square Theatre Company. The play, by Sir Charles Young, was 
originally made public March, 1886, at the Haymarket Theatre in 
London where Arthur Dacre, Lady Monckton, Mr. Barrymore and 
Beerbohm Tree played the leading parts. It received its first 
presentation in this country in Chicago, July 19, 1886, by the Madison 
Square Theatre Company. Subsequently it ran the entire regular 
season at the Madison Square Theatre, New York. 

Sir Charles Young conceived the idea of the plot from the life of 
a genuine " Jim, the Penman," so called by the police, otherwise 
known in social circles of England as James Townshend Saward. In 
the play the criminal central figure is given the name of James 
Ralston. Living with his wife and children, two gay young people, 
Jack, the son, and Agnes, the daughter, the latter being engaged to 
Lord Drelincourt, Mr. Ralston seems to all the better world a man of 
uprightness and benevolence. To the shady classes, particularly to a 



188;]. Jim, the Penman. 41 

certain Baron Hartfeld, he is known as a most skilful forger, and has 
even been nicknamed, by those who cannot locate him, as " Jim, the 
Penman." There are a number of visitors at the Ralston town 
house, among them being Captain Redwood, apparently a very dull, 
sleepy army swell, but subsequently shown to be also a man playing 
a double part, though in his case on the other side of the fence 
from his host, in fact a detective. Others to be seen at the home of 
the great ''financier" are Louis Percival, an American who was a 
lover of Mrs. Ralston before her marriage ; Mrs. Chapstone, a good- 
ly soul in labors of charity ; Dr. Petty wise, the family doctor ; Mr. 
Chapstone, Mr. Wetherbee, who lives in politics, and Lady Duns- 
combe. Mr. Ralston, in the generosity of his heart, aids Mrs. 
Chapstone's charities by subscribing his wife's name for a good 
little sum, and having thus unconsciously thrown down a clew that is 
afterwards to be picked up to his disadvantage, he listens to 
Percival as the latter tells the company of his reason for visiting 
England. Just as the American is about to explain that he has lost 
money through a forgery supposed to have been perpetrated by 
" Jim, the Penman," and that is the man that he is looking for, sleepy 
Captain Redwood, nodding in his chair, falls over, upsetting a table 
and making such a racket that all conversation is interrupted. Of 
course the awkward man apologizes profusely and is really very much 
embarrassed — to all outward appearances — but he manages to drop 
a warning word to Percival that he must not divulge that part of his 
story left untold. Percival considers it impertinent in a stranger to 
dictate to him, but he learns the reason later on. Baron Hartfeld 
calls upon his fellow-worker, and when the two are alone he urges 
Ralston to another crime. The latter would refuse if possible ; he 
desires now to escape from the partnership of guilt, but the old 
titled scoundrel persists, promising that this shall be the last. The 
robbery to which he leads Ralston is the procuring, by a forged 
order, of the family diamonds belonging to Agnes Ralston's sweet- 
heart, Lord Drelincourt. Meanwhile the American visitor has 
learned from Captain Redwood that he, the apparently heavy swell, 
is a sharp officer in the Pinkerton service, and that their host is sus- 
pected of being the notorious " Jim, the Penman." Percival, loving 
still the woman whom in her maiden days he would have made his 



42 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [May, 

wife, for her sake stops all action against her husband. But fate 
continues its work. It seems the engagement of Percival and Mrs. 
Ralston had been broken off because of letters that eacli had 
received from the other. The two, led to compare the notes, learn 
for the first time that they are forgeries, and the lady further dis- 
covers that the signature of the letter sent to Percival is in the same 
handwriting as that subscribed in the charity book by Mr. Ralston. 
Then Percival, supposing that she is cognizant of the entire story, 
lets out all that he knows, and the climax of discovery is reached. 
Disgrace, however, is turned away by the sudden death of Ralston 
from heart disease, occurring just at the time when Hartfeld is 
arrested and when the opening of the folding doors that lead to the 
adjoining room shows to the spectators the guests at the wedding 
breakfast of Ralston's daughter. 

The play is a thoroughly well conceived and well wrought dram- 
atic construction. The interest of the spectator is captured at the 
very outset and is never allowed to flag, while at the same time the 
regular progressive climaxes are kept within the bounds of modera- 
tion so as not to culminate in exaggeration. The plot, though 
describing the life of one man in a hundred thousand, in a million 
perhaps, is so naturally developed that the spectators feel themselves 
for the time being one of the characters, as it were, and never think 
of assigning improbability to the story. Indeed, in this very com- 
pulsion of sympathetic feeling on the part of the observer lies the 
strength of the drama. The acting was excellent. Mrs. Booth as 
Mrs. Ralston was especially natural and forcible, and in the scene of 
discovery of her husband's guilt rose to a height of superb acting. 
Mr. Holland's contrast of the nonchalence and lazy manner of the 
English swell with the sharp, decisive method of the detective was 
a strong point in his able impersonation. Mr. Robinson was best in 
the quieter passages of Mr. Ralston ; at other times heavy. Mr. 
Salvini as Baron Hartfeld showed great ability, while Mr. Pitt was 
dignified and manly as the generous Percival. Miss Burrough's 
portrayal of Agnes was marked by simplicity and sweetness. 

It is sad to note that during the return engagement of Jun, the 
Penman in Boston, its author passed away in England, September ii, 
at the age of 48. 



188;]. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 43 

The strange story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Xid^d. been read by 
so many tliat a special interest was felt in Thomas Russell Sullivan's 
dramatization of the tale when it was performed for the first time on 
any stage at the Museum, May 9, by Richard Mansfield and the 
Museum company. Its author, Robert Louis Stevenson, has said 
that the central idea of Dr. Jekyll came to him in a dream. To the 
general thinking one would say the dream must have been a night- 
mare. Mr. Stevenson himself commenting on the theatrical repre- 
sentation, said : " The dramatization of Dr. Jekyll has been done with 
ray consent, but really I don't know how it will succeed. It seems 
to me too ugly, too repulsive a story to put on the stage. It is not 
pretty enough. I don't ihink a novel makes a good play anyway, the 
two are so essentially different." 

The central theme of the book and play shows the doctor as a 
man of double nature, calm, grave, true-hearted, charitable, and 
at the same time fond of pleasure and disposed to seek the gratifi- 
cation of his senses, but yet industriously concealing his dissipations, 
leading, in fact, a dual life ; then the doctor, studying into this double 
nature, sees the two separate characters that are embodied in his one 
character, and with a morbid desire to live each nature separately, 
makes use of a powerful drug which he has discovered that enables 
him to effect the transformation in appearance whenever he desires 
to live a mad life, and then again to retransform his appearance when 
he wearies of the exercise of his 6vil passions and desires to be 
again the man for whom the better half of his nature is fitted. In 
the tale, Jekyll is the man of propriety and virtue ; Hyde is the fiend 
of brutal passion. 

Mr. Sullivan has interpolated a love interest, making Agnes 
Carew beloved in honorable devotion by the hero in his upright 
nature, as Dr. Jekyll, and sought in passion by the hero in his bad 
nature, as Mr. Hyde. The murder of the book becomes, in the first 
act of the play, the murder by Hyde of Agnes's father. Gen. Sir 
Danvers Carew, and it is in the unravelling of the mystery of this 
crime that the thread of the plot continues. Jekyll realizing that 
the drug is obtaining involuntary control over him has sought to give 
Agnes a release from their engagement, but she, not understanding 
his reason, does not accept it. After leaving her, the change comes 



44 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [May, 

over JTim and he returns with evil passion to Sir Danvers Carew's 
house, is resisted by the father in his efforts to reach the girl, and 
strangles the old man with fiendish ferocity. The detectives pursue 
Hyde but he evades them by slipping through a sliding panel in his 
room. Meeting Utterson, the friend and lawyer of Jekyll, the two 
pass a few words of unpleasant nature and then Hyde unlocks the 
door of Jekyll's laboratory and enters. A moment later Utterson is 
informed by the avaricious and traitorous housekeeper of Hyde 
that that evil man was the murderer for whom the officers are seeking. 
The now thoroughly aroused lawyer pounds upon the laboratory door, 
demanding admittance, when to his astonishment, as it opens, the 
calm face of Dr. Jekyll is seen in the doorway and the doctor's 
quiet voice invites him to enter. Naturally Jekyll is suspected of 
concealing the murderer, as the latter cannot be found, and even 
Agnes begins to acquire a suspicion. But Dr. Lanyon later on meets 
Hyde, though under peculiar circumstances, for the man of bad 
nature comes of his own accord to Lanyon's office in order to obtain 
the drug that lies in the package sent from Jekyll's house. With this 
drug he re-transforms himself back to his better character and thus 
discloses his secret. The final act is devoted to expression of the 
remorse of Jekyll, his dread at the destined involuntary change to 
Hyde and horror at the realization that the re-transforming drug, which 
could bring him back to his better self, is entirely gone. The 
change begins to come and at the instant after he has seen from his 
balcony Agnes passing below and called out to her in agony, the 
full metamorphosis is accomplished and the girl and her friends rush 
in only to find the hideous Hyde distorted in the agony of death. 
He has taken poison. 

The dramatizer has done his work concisely and excellently from 
a literary point of view, but with the great fault of not making the 
story entirely intelligible to one who had not read the book. 
Outside of Jekyll- Hyde he has not managed to create a decided 
interest in any character save in Agnes, and the other personages 
merely serve to connect the tale by their dialogue and to act as 
figures of which or to which Jekyll may converse ; but for 
all that he has so drawn them that they do not hamper 
or detract from the story, but chime in harmoniously. As to the 




RICHARD MANSFIELD. 



1887]. On the Rio Grande. 45 

nature of the piece, it is for the first two acts a melodrama, for the 
last two a supernatural drama. The horrible murder in the earlier 
part foreshadows what is to come in that line, and when at last the 
drop curtain has fallen one cannot restrain this thought : realistic, 
vividly realistic, powerful and impressive, but fearful in its idea and 
uncanny in its results. None but the most intelligent would com- 
prehend fully this imaginative drama ; others would be drawn chiefly 
by curiosity anei love of mind shocks. 

Mr. Mansfield without any stage trickery succeeded admirably in 
portraying the two varying natures. In facial expression and attitude 
of the body lay his method of showing the physical difference 
between Jekyll and Hyde. His impersonation of Jekyll was drawn 
in somewhat too sombre, dry and unattractive colors but his Hyde 
was an artistic and true representation, a terribly repulsive picture 
but one that was executed in masterly manner. Miss Sheridan gave 
an interpretation of the greedy housekeeper of Hyde, Rebecca 
Moor, that established her credit as a dramatic actress, making the 
part exactly suiting the play, vivid and weird. Mr. Hudson as Dr. 
Lanyon and Mr. Burrows as Poole, the servant of Jekyll, were par- 
ticularly good, and Miss Evesson as Agnes and Miss Ryan as Mrs. 
Lanyon did well. Mr. Coulter made what he could out of the part 
of Gabriel Utterson ; it was not one that could show him at his best. 
Mr. Putnam did not meet the requirements of Sir Danvers Carew, 
that character of the fussy old retired officer evidently not being at 
all in his line. 

Mr. Mansfield has been quoted as saying of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. 
Hyde, " It is not a play to please everyone, but it has in it that 
element of surprise which I think the public nowadays demands." 

Mark Price's drama, On the Rio Grande, was given its first 
Boston production at the Boston Theatre, May 9. The piece was 
originally brought out Sept. 25, 1886, at Rondout, N. Y. Del Paso, 
an innocent outlaw, is induced by a cattle king, Morgan Mortimer, 
to assist in the abduction of a girl, Dora, who afterwards turns out 
to be Del Paso's sister. Having learned the truth from his long-lost 
brother, Del Paso rescues his sister and starts in honored life once 
more. The plot is not novel but is well worked out in melodramatic 
r.tyle. The author, Mark Price, played Del Paso effectively. 



The Playgoers' Year-Book. 



ay, 



M/ LITTLE BEAU/tE-^ 

COMTOFCr 
Nov/, 




AOr. 1. 



Augustin Daly's company brought out 
at the Museum, May i6, for the first 
time in Boston, Love in Hai-ness, Mr. 
Daly's adaptation of Albin Valabreque's 
comedy, Le Bonheur Conjugal. Its 
original production in America was at 
Daly's Theatre, New York, Nov. i6, 
1886. The story treats of two sisters, 
Una Urquhart and Rhoda Naggitt, who 
quarrel with their husbands and so 
deter a third sister, Jenny, from en- 
gaging in matrimony until all things are 
WHIBSI^^^ I righted, through Mr. Naggitt's arousing 
the jealousy of the women and of Mr. 
Urquhart by means of letters making 
Una Urquhart in "Love in Harness." appointments in a bachclor apartment, 
and so inducing a return to love. The piece is improbable, non- 
sensical, light and flimsy, and was made entertaining only by the 
excellent acting of Miss Rehan, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Drew, Mrs. Gilbert, 
Mr. Fisher and the other impersonators. 

Shakespeare's comedy. The Taming of the Shrew, received its 
first presentation in entirety in Boston, May 23, at the Boston 
Museum, Augustin Daly's company appearing in the cast. The 
Garrick condensed version, called Kathei-ine and Fetruchio, had 
often been heard since its original presentation in America, April 14, 
1768, at New York, but previous to Mr. Daly's revival the entire 
play had been given in any land only twice, and those times in 
England, during the past century and a quarter. The comedy was 
presented at Daly's Theatre for the first time in America, Jan. 18, 
1887 and there it ran with great success until May i. With the 
original cast the piece was played in Boston. Miss Rehan's haughty, 
fiery Katherine was vigorous yet graceful and of high merit. Mr. 
Drew presented the true Shakespearean Petruchio in that he pre- 
sented the good-natare and humor of the mad-cap behind the as- 
sumed roughness. Mr. Gilbert was irresistably comical as the 
deluded tinker, and the other parts were well taken. 

Yardley and Stephens's melodramatic burlesque Little Jack 



1887]. Little Jack Sheppard. 47 

Sheppard, produced first in this country at the New York Bijou, 
September 13, 1886. by Nat. C. Goodwin, was given its first Boston 
presentation, May 30, at the Park. The piece is a hodge-podge of 
cheap order, and owed what attraction it possessed to the mimicry 
powers of Mr. Goodwin as Jonathan Wild. 






August. 






Open air performance of As You Like It. — Mulcahey's Big 
Party. — A Pair of Kids. — The Dominie's Daughter at the 
Museum. 

fHE months of June and July were without interest from a 
dramatic standpoint and even August showed but few attrac- 
tive theatre nights. On the afternoon of the 8th. of August at 
Manchester-by-the-Sea an event occurred that should be recorded? 
since that was the first open-air performance in America, although 
England has seen two or three within recent years. On the lawn of 
the Masconomo House As You LiJze It was given by a cast hitherto 
unequalled and with very successful results. 

Two horse-play jDieces were produced for the first time in Boston 
on August 22 and 29 respectively ; on the former date Fred G. 
Maeder's Mulcahefs Big Party, at the Boston, by Messrs. Barry and 
Fay, and on the latter date Ezra J. Kendall's A Pair of Kids, 3.t 
the Globe, by the author. 

The inauguration of the forty-seventh regular dramatic season of 
the Boston Museum on the night of August 29 gave the first sign of 
genuine theatrical activity in the city. The play, The Dominie^s 
Daughter, by D. D. Lloyd, received its first presentation in Boston, 
having been originally brought out at Wallack's Theatre, New York, 
March 24, 1887, with Harry Edwards, Kyrle Bellew, Herbert Kelcey, 






1887]. The Dominie's Daughter. 49 

Miss Annie Robe, Mme. Ponisi and Miss Helen Russell in the cast. 
It is a patriotic drama of Revolutionary days, dealing with the year 
1781-82, when New York was occupied by the British and when 
Washington was meditating a descent on the city, a plan afterward 
abandoned. On the old Boston road, then the Bowery, upon the 
very outskirts of New York, lived Rev. John Van Derveer and his 
charming daughter Molly, while quartered in their house was one of 
the enemy's officers, Capt. Dyke, a gallant young soldier, who had 
fallen in love with the Dominie's daughter, with the result of recip- 
rocal affection on her part. Another officer, Major Barton, a sinister 
Englishman, also had left his heart a victim to the pretty rebel's win- 
someness. Molly's brother Robert, a Lieutenant in Washington's 
army, has daringly played the spy in New York, and seeks a hiding 
place in his father's house. Pursued by Capt. Dyke he hides in 
Molly's bedroom, but as the clergyman's daughter scorns a lie the 
place of concealment is acknowledged in answer to questions, the 
natural result of that acknowledgment, however, being warded off by 
the presentation of a loaded musket at the Captain's breast when he 
attempts to enter. This rather unpleasant situation for both parties 
is relieved by the exultant entrance of Dolly, the sweetheart of 
Robert, who declares that the youth has escaped. No mention is 
made of brotherhood, and Capt. Dyke is unintentionally led to 
suspect that the concealed spy was a lover of Molly. Robert, 
meanwhile, under the watchful care of Hiram Brown, a typical 
Yankee, who, for eight years or more, had been courting the sharp- 
tongued Dominie's housekeeper, has lain hidden in the vault of the 
church until he thinks it safe to emerge and consult with his sister. 
That maiden has just declined to accept Major Barton's proffered 
aff"ection, for which reason the angry Englishman, when he discovers 
the spy with the girl, hastens to cause the arrest of all the family as 
abettors in treason, maliciously intrusting to his more favored rival, 
Capt. Dyke, the execution of the arrest. The troops obey their 
officers, the parishioners of the old Dominie obey their natural 
instincts, and the result seems likely to be a conflict, stopped, how- 
ever, by the peace-loving clergyman, who submits to capture. 
Before another act is over the lucky Robert has managed to 
escape from prison, but Molly, distraught at the danger of her old 



50 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [August, 

father in that noisome, fever- causing prison, and separated from her 
lover through his misunderstanding, to save her father and her 
brother who has inopportunely sought refuge in the house proffers her 
hand to Major Barton. Sadly she parts from Capt. Dyke, who has 
now learned that his suspicions were unjust, and sorrowfully goes 
with her promised bridegroom to the church. There, however, the 
course of events is suddenly twisted violently about by the repentance 
or change of heart of the Major, for, seeing Dyke close by the door 
and realizing that the marriage gains for him only an unwilling bride, 
while it separates two true lovers, Barton, with self-sacrificing love, 
gives up the girl to his brother officer and bids them both be 
happy. 

The tale is told in bright language, well chosen, well arranged, and 
all in good taste, with none of the innuendoes or meaning sentences 
that so often lower the drama of to-day. The climaxes are strong 
and progressive, while the entire action is easy and natural. But the 
total result of text and action is not wholly satisfactory. Though 
there are scenes of strength and of deep interest, yet, in the entirety, 
there is a lack of intenseness, and often times, too, a lack of spirited 
movement. The unnatural ending was afterwards changed for the 
better by having Capt. Dyke return from an expedition an hour 
before the time for the wedding, bearing with him the confession of 
a dying fellow officer which would convict Major Barton of theft 
from the army funds. On hearing of the proposed marriage, Dyke 
sends a message to Gen. Clinton and then intercepts the bridal 
party at the church door. He taunts and insults Major Barton, and 
while their swords are crossed the messenger returns with an order 
placing Barton under arrest. The unhappy villain is marched off, 
Capt. Dyke takes his place at the bride's side, and as they enter the 
church the curtain falls. 

Charles Barron returned to the Museum after a year's absence and 
enacted the gallant hero with admirable earnestness and expression. 
Miss Evesson was as piquant as could be desired in the love scenes 
though not manifesting the full complement of strength and serious 
purport in the dramatic episodes. The other parts were well 
sustained, Edgar L. Davenport, son of the late Edgar L. Davenport, 
displaying on this, his first appearance as a member of the Museum 



1887]. The Dominie's Daughter. 51 ; 

Company, that ease and reserve force which warranted high praise. 1 

Mrs. Vincent made her last appearance in this piece. After acting ^ 

with all her accustomed vivacity for four performances of the The ' 

Dominie's Daughter, on Thursday of the opening week she was ! 

stricken with apoplexy and on the following Sunday, September 4, ! 

she passed away. For fifty-two years she had been on the stage in ! 

England and x'^merica and for thirty-five years had been a leading ! 
favorite at the Museum. She had appeared in 457 different 

characters with the Museum company. Her place was temporarily " 

filled by Mme. Ponisi of New York. \ 



11 



1887], 



A Run of Luck, 



53 




Capt. Trevor and Lucy Byefield in 
"A Run of Luck." 



A Run of Luck was originally- 
brought out at the Drury Lane 
Theatre, London, Aug. 28, 1886. 
The play was then interpreted by 
some excellent artists, including 
J. G. Grahame, J. Beauchamp, 
Sophie Eyre and Alma Murray, 
while the voiceless but extremely 
active quadruped participants 
were reported to be " blooded " 
stock that might well arouse a 
furore among the frequenters of 
the Derby. To bring this play to 
Boston was somewhat of an ex- 
periment, for Americans have not 
yet entered fully into the spirit of 
the system of running races and 
following hounds that '' our English cousins " so enjoy, though they 
seem to be approaching that position. The trial, however, was made 
and on September 12, for the first time in America. A Rich of Luck 
was presented at the Boston Theatre. The drama is the work of 
Henry Pettitt, well known as the author of LLarbor Lights and 
other melodramas of that order, and Augustus Harris, the manager 
of Drury Lane. 

The argument runs in this wise : John Copsley is an old horse 
trainer, with a daughter, Daisy, whose subsequent adventures form 
the greater substance of the story. She is engaged to her adopted 
brother, Harry Copsley, but is also loved by George Selby, the son of 
the Squire, a good youth at heart, though given to reckless ways. 
His manner of living, heaping up debt after debt, has placed him in 
the power of a pair of fine rogues, Capt. Trevor and Charlie 
Sandown, the former a gentleman to all outward appearance, and the 
latter a cockney, over-fond of using foreign phrases of whose mean- 
ing he is ignorant. Young Selby is practically betrothed to his 
cousin Mabel, who is a wealthy heiress, and who, therefore, excites 
the cupidity of Trevor. That aristocratic villain has learned that 
Harry Copsley is in reality not of the Copsley blood, and by the 



1887]. The Red LvVmp. 55 

literary quality, with its flowery love scenes and high-strung senti- 
ment, yet there is plenty of terse, spirited action, an appropriate 
mixture of humor and pathos, and some very attractive realistic 
pictures of the meet and the race. The company carried the 
various roles fairly well, the best acting being by Frank E. Lamb, 
vvho proved an ideal sentimental good-natured groom, D. J. Ma- 
guinnis whose special class of humor appeared to advantage as 
Charlie Sandown, Frank Losee who ably pictured the cool, collected 
schemer, and Miss Grace Thorne, whose representation of a duped 
but repentant woman, was earnest, and at the critical moment full of 
fiery energy. 

The second new play of the season at the Museum was given 
September 19, receiving its first presentation in America and follow- 
ing by only a few months its initial production on any stage. The 
Red Lamp by W, Outram Tristram, was originally brought out at the 
Comedy Theatre, London, April 20, 1887, serving then to introduce 
Herbert Beerbohm-Tree as a theatre manager and giving to that 
actor opportunity for playing Demetrius, while Lady Monckton, the 
talented ex-amateur and original of Mrs. Ralston in Jim, the Pen- 
man created the role of the Princess Claudia. Miss Marion 
Terry was at that time the Olga of the cast. 

The story has a Nihilistic scheme for its central plot, and its title 
comes from the signal used to warn the conspirators when danger is 
at hand. The Princess Claudia, at the opening of the play, is a 
warm supporter of the Czar, and a hater of the Nihilists. Her 
l-^usband is Gen. Morakoff, and a friend with whom she works 
assiduously against the plotters is Demetrius, chief of the secret 
police. But one night while rejoicing over a successful raid which she 
instigated, the Princess learns from Ivan Zazzulic, an editor who has 
been supposed to be a most loyal Russian but who is in truth an 
enemy of the Czar, that her brother, the Prince Alexis, is a Nihilist, 
and more than that, is in the power of Ivan, for the latter possesses 
a photograph of a group of conspirators in which is the young 
Prince. The sister, devoutly loving her brother, needs must make 
terms with this rejected lover of hers, Ivan, and henceforth when- 
ever a raid is contemplated must signal the danger by placing a red 
lamp in a particular window. But Felise, a French lady's maid, 



56 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [September, 

notes the unusual location, and, with a bribe as her reward, discloses 
to Demetrius the signal. The chief, imagining that it is a love in- 
trigue with Ivan which occasions this treachery, informs the husband, 
and as a result the lamp is removed to the General's own room. To 
warn Alexis and his friends the Princess, accompanied by Allan Vil- 
liers, an ever ready American journalist who is betrothed to Olga, 
the stepdaughter of Claudia, goes to the Nihilist headquarters, the 
studio of one Turgan, a sculptor, not, however, without being 
detected by Felise, who informs the police chieftain. From this 
studio a mine has been dug out to the street and everything prepared 
to blow up the Czar when he passes, Alexis being chosen to fire the 
fuse from a distant spot. Demetrius enters, but finds nothing 
incriminating, though to the dismay of Alexis and Ivan he taps the 
wall with his cane at points dangerously near the spring that would 
fire the mine. The officer has barely left the house when Claudia 
and the New York Herald correspondent approach. She pleads 
with her brother, but he will not desert his comrades. When she 
declares that she will take him away from these associations the 
Russian journahst offers a threat with his dagger that is coolly met 
by the revolver of the American newspaper man. The latter's quick 
wit saves his sweetheart's step-mother from yet another danger, for 
Demetrius is again seen at the gate with the General. Allen then 
has Alexis instantly write a letter to his sister saying that he is 
suddenly stricken with sickness and calling upon her to come, and 
when the two excited men rush in expecting to catch the Princess 
with her lover, this letter and the prostrate form of the youth avert 
suspicion. In the final act of the drama the traitorous Ivan indites 
a letter offering to betray his companions in exchange for his own 
pardon, and the letter being intercepted leads to Alexis demanding 
a return of the incriminating photograph. The youth, however, 
falls under the knife of Ivan, and Ivan himself, it is intimated, 
becomes a victim to the dagger of a Nihilist servant. To prevent 
the other conspirators from carrying out the plot the Czar is warned 
by the Piincess, through her faithful ally, Villiers, and she herself tells 
her husband that Alexis has died for Russia, which seems to satisfy 
everyone, and removes all cause for further deception or suspicion. 
The play is interesting but is lacking in sustained strength and 



188;]. The Red Lamp. 57 

sentimental, or love, feature. It has no comedy and has but three 
characters that fully hold attention, while the ending leaves the story 
unfinished and tinged with uncertainty. Mr. Barron, as the shrewd 
old man of mystery, was complete in his make-up, so disguised as to 
be unrecognized until he spoke, while his acting was of highest order. 
Miss Clark, who returned to the Museum after a year's vacation, was 
admirable as the Princess, particularly in the scenes of defiance to 
Ivan and later to Demetrius. Miss Annie Chester practically made 
her first appearance as a member of the company, (she had played 
in The Dominie'' s Daughter three nights after Mrs. Vincent was 
stricken) and showed much ease of manner for a debutante, as well 
as a good conception of good acting. 



^- | October. | "#> 



SOI'HIA AT THE MuSEUM. — BOUCICAULT IN PhRYNE : ThE ROMANCE 

OF A Young Wife. — Le Grand Mogul. — Philopene. — A Hole 
IN THE Ground. 

K EARLY every enthusiastic play-goer delights in attending the 
first night of a new play, but the Bostonians who wished to view 
the openings of all the novel pieces of October found them- 
selves in a quandary. Though there were five novelties, all but one 
(and that a skit which can be left out of consideration) came on the 
same night. 

On the evening of October 17th, Robert Buchanan's pastoral 
comedy of Sophia, founded on Fielding's famous novel, was pro- 
duced at the Museum. To transform Tom Jories as Fielding left it, 
into drama seems a delicate task, and when, as at the present time, 
the novel itself is rightly withheld from younger readers it would 
appear that a presentation on the stage would be dangerous. So it 
would, indeed, if the moral, or, more properly speaking, immoral 
tone of the book was preserved, for the theatrical representation 
would certainly be more glaring and offensive than the written page. 
But Robert Buchanan has adopted a happy solution of the difficulty, 
and while he presents the vigorous and faithful portrayal of life that 
characterized Fielding's tale, yet cleanses it of the taints that are so 



1887]. Sophia. 59 

condemnatory. Sophia was originally brought out at the Vaudeville, 
London, April 12, 1886, with Charles Glenney as Tom Jones, Thomas 
Thome as Partridge and Miss Kate Rorke as Sophia. It was given 
its first American performance at Wallack's Theatre, New York, the 
fourth day of the following November, Kyrle Bellew in the latter 
production playing the hero, and Miss Annie Robe the heroine. 

The story in the play begins on the lawn before the house of 
Sophia's father, Squire Western, and then the open-souled, happy-go- 
lucky lover of pretty Sophia is introduced together with Blifil, the 
double-faced prater on morals and philosophy, the detested rival for 
the maid's hand. As the tale progresses, Tom is driven from the 
home of his dear old guardian. Squire Allvvorthy, who has taken the 
foundling to his heart but sends him off after Blifil's wily insinuations 
have done their work, and seeks refuge in the barber shop of 
Partridge, to whom the young man had shown kindness in past days. 
Blifil now tries to get Tom to flee the country, but the latter refuses and 
afterwards helps Sophia, who has run away from the disliked 
marriage with the sneak, to escape to London, follows her there, and 
to learn her whereabouts calls upon the woman of fashion, Lady 
Bellaston. That interesting person, although she has Sophia as a 
visitor in the house at that moment, professes that the girl is not in 
London and gives Tom several broad hints that he might look 
higher in his love affairs. But our honest friend doesn't care to 
change his affection, even if it would bring him wealth instead of 
leaving him so financially embarrassed as to have in his wardrobe the 
single spare shirt which Partridge, his devoted follower, is soon dis- 
covered putting through the washing process. To the wretched 
quarters of the two men comes Mistress Honour, Sophia's maid, and 
after her very comical, dignified reception by the barber, a second 
visitor approaches. It is Lady Bellaston and, while Mistress Honour 
concealed in a closet watches, the wealthy admirer of Tom thrusts 
her attentions upon him, even to the point of presenting a kiss, but 
at the announcement of Sophia's approach rushes away into Tom's 
bedroom. The number of hiding ladies grows more embarrassing 
when the entrance of Squire Western drives his daughter into con- 
cealment, and the unfortunate situation of the hero may be 
surmised as the indignant father, searching for his daughter, whom 



6o The Playgoers' Year-Book. [October, 

he had been following, brings forth Lady Bellaston. Sophia is of 
course angry, and away she goes after speaking her mind to poor 
Tom. But at the inn of the " Bull's Head " affairs are shortly 
cleared up, for Sophia's maid has a story to tell regarding Mrs. 
Bellaston's conduct in the attic, and besides that the falsity of Blifil 
is discovered, and the aid of " Black George " Seagrira and of Molly 
Seagrim, the gypsy daughter of the poacher, who has an amorous 
claim on Blifil, brings Tom into good repute, making matrimony the 
prospective feature for the hero and heroine, for the barber and the 
maid, and also for Tom's inappreciative tutor, Square, and Squire 
Western's maiden sister. 

Sophia may unhesitatingly be pronounced a graceful, pretty play, 
with a breezy atmosphere of the wholesome order pervading it, and 
with many touches of nature to appeal to the observer, while 
throughout all a line of pathos continues that affects the memory 
more, perhaps^ than any other characteristic of the piece. The 
character drawing is very good. In Tom Jones and Blifil are found 
the counterparts of the two Surfaces of The School for Scandal 
but this is not to be wondered at since Sheridan went to Fielding's 
work for his originals in these cases, and the same fact explains what 
all who read the plot must notice as a similarity of ideas between the 
screen scene in Surface's room and the closet scene in Jones's attic. 
Mr. Barron's Tom Jones was a strong delineation in its marking of 
the strength of character below the harum-scarum habits. Miss 
Clark's Lady Bellaston was an artistic impersonation finished in every 
particular and possessed of much fascination. Miss Evesson dropped 
all her infantile manners and tones, and with sweetness and simplicity 
presented the personification of purity and innocence, while her 
appearance was most charming. Mr. Seymour's own personality 
was completely sunk in Squire Western, and his portrayal of the 
irritable and irrational father was as bluff and hearty and natural as 
life. Mr. Wilson's Partridge was a pleasing figure. 

The author of Sophia in a letter to the London Era said : " I 
contend that I have in no respect perverted the spirit, while carefully 
suppressing the letter of Fielding's great fiction. The character of 
Sophia Western, which I have transferred without a change from 
mud-bespattered pages, dominates my drama as it really dominates 






1887]. The Romance of a Young Wife. 61 

the novel — a type of female purity, so fresh, so wholesome, and so 
virginal that it imparts to the entire work an atmosphere of purity. 
With regard to Tom Jones I have certainly purified that scapegrace 
a little to fit him for a young lady so infinitely his superior, but it is 
untrue to say that I have made him immaculate. " 

Boucicault's new play of Pliryne was originally brought out in San 
Francisco, Sept. 19, 1887. On the 17th. of October it was given its 
first Boston production at the Hollis Street Theatre, the name, 
however, having added to it the sub title which was later on to 
become the sole title, The Romance of a Young Wife. Mr. Bouci- 
cault in a letter said of this : " I am told that the title of my last 
work, Pliryne, is suggestive of a play of the Camille or Marble Heart 
class. I am sorry for that. There is no such matter in it. So I 
intend to alter the title to The Romance of a Young Wife. 
Without making any pretence to purism, I think it better to select 
subjects and characters and incidents free from objection or offence. 
Moliere used to try the effects of his plays on his old housekeeper. 
I prefer to try mine on a child, and I enjoy no applause more than 
that of a boy or girl who listens with open mouth and heart, eager to 
laugh or cry. So I am content to sing my simple, clean strains to the 
sympathies rather than to the passions." 

Phryne is the wife of Mark Carrington, and thinking herself 
neglected by her husband she seeks the company of gay people who 
are not exactly of the best class. Carrington locks her out and 
afterwards, when Phryne seeking the shelter of a friend, Mrs. 
Downey, is treacherously brought by a villainous lover of hers, 
Shirley Vercker, to his villa, Mark finds his wife there and naturally 
supposes she is utterly abandoned. But Phryne escapes without 
harm, becomes a governess, and in the end returns to her husband, 
for he at last discovers the truth. The play is well constructed and 
the situations strong, so that it meets favor. Miss Thorndyke did 
excellently as the foolish young wife while Mr. Boucicault's Jack 
O'Beirne, the frank friend of husband and wife, was thoroughly 
faithful to truth. 

The new opera for Boston on the 17th. of October was Audran's 
Le Grand Mogul, presented by Maurice Grau's French Opera 
Bouffe Company at the Globe. The story relates to an Indian 



62 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [October, 

Prince, the heir to the Mogul, who is possessed of a necklace that 
will turn black when its owner commits an indiscretion, and to his 
love for Irma, a snake-charmer travelling with her mountebank 
brother. An English captain enamored of Irma, and the Princess 
Bengaline, enamored of her cousin, the Prince, seek to prevent the 
love-match but are defeated, while an alteration of color in the 
necklace is shown to be a trick of the Princess who changed the 
beads with the vain hope that it would lead to the expulsion of the 
Prince by his virtuous subjects, her own elevation to the Mogulship 
and her intended forgiveness on condition of marriage. The 
music was composed in 1877 to the libretto of M. Givot and was 
first brought out in Paris in the Autumn of that year. On Oct. 29, 
1881, it was produced at the Bijou Theatre, New York, under the 
name of T/ie Snake Charmer, The music is tuneful, the text 
improper and not particularly humorous. M'lle Julia Bennati, who 
sang the role of Irma and made her first appearance in Boston, had 
a well trained voice of agreeable quality. 

Myra Goodwin gave at the Park Theatre on the evening of the 
17th. of October the first performance in Boston of E. E. Kidder's 
Philopene which had received its initial performance in Jersey City, 
October 10. The pranks of a foundUng, called Philopene because 
she was the second child found by a merry doctor who had named 
the first one Phillip, offer opportunity for a very light piece for a 
vivacious star. 

A new skit by Charles H. Hoyt, entitled A Hole in the Ground, 
was first heard in Boston at the Park Theatre, October 31. It was 
of the same nonsensical order that characterizes all of that author's 
productions. Mrs. Charles H. Hoyt (Miss Flora Walsh) appeared 
art; the head of the company. 



/^ gv 

^- | November, g-^- 



Upside Down. — Pawn Ticket No. 210. — E. H. Sothern in The 
Highest Bidder.— Mrs. Langtry in As in a Looking Glass.— 
The Barrister at the Museum. — Frederick Warde in Galea 
and in Gaston Cadol. 

•jrN November the busy season of the theatre is near its height and 
T it was not surprising to find an immense variety offered upon the 
T local stage, from nonsensities to farces, farce-comedies, dramas 
and tragedies. Passing over the two novelties of the 14th, 
Thomas A. Daly and John J. McNally's Upside Down (first produced 
at Ware, Mass., August 22) carried out at the Hollis by the Daly 
family company, and Clay M. Greene and David Belasco's Pawn 
Ticket No. 210 (first produced at Chicago, September 12) given by 
Lotta at the Park — both designed to meet the requirements of the 
so-called "skit" order of performance, and to go no farther, — one's 
serious attention is first drawn to Mrs. Langtry's production, at the 
Globe, on the 21st, of the dramatization of F. L. Phillips's unsavory 
novel As in a Looking Glass. The book is a flashy, abasing com- 
bination of suggestive social immorality and covert evil, but the play 
is considerably tempered down. Yet, with no single word to offend, 
the tone and influence is bad. 



64 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [November, 

Lena Despard is not a character who openly affronts pubHc 
opinion. On the contrary, she has the outward semblance of a 
gentlewoman. Her position, in fact, corresponds to that of the 
man of the world, and she may well be termed '' a woman of the 
world." Her aim is to go through this life, getting from it the most 
of what she would call '' its pleasures," and while hesitating at 
nothing beyond the pale of morality, yet preserving the appearance 
of respectability. It is the old comparison of character and rep- 
utation ; never mind what the former is so long as the latter is kept 
clean. Lena has allied herself with another adventurer, Capt. Jack 
Fortinbras, and though the more skilled in rascally finesse than her 
male associate, yet is totally in his unscrupulous power by reason of 
his knowledge of her life. She plans to wed Algernon Balfour, a 
wealthy young fellow, and with this mercenary aim separates 
Algernon from his guileless fiancee, Beatrice Vyse, by means of hes 
and tricks, and then arranges for Captain Jack to pay court to the 
deluded innocent. Lena fails to materialize this latter plan, but 
succeeds in winning Balfour, though often near exposure. A strange 
old fellow. Count Paul Dromiroff, the head of the Russian secret 
service, has taken an odd interest in the charming adventuress and 
he it is who saves her from being exposed, at the end relieving her 
of Captain Jack who has betrayed his " pal " to Balfour. But Lena 
has a genuine affection for her husband and, rather than disgrace 
him, commits suicide. 

Lena Despard is a woman willing at all times to lie, to gamble, to 
indulge in amours, to cheat, to play the hypocrite, in fact, to do 
anything in the code of im-morals, and with this standing she goes 
prosperously through life until the final collapse. She has the quality 
of a Siren in her beauty, and this feature Mrs. Langtry fully supplied, 
but in her attempt to meet the demands of the acting, Mrs. Langtry 
failed by lack of genuine feeling. While the actress posed and 
gestured with studied appropriateness, all seemed to be superficial and 
hence non-affective in an emotional point of view. Her death scene 
was repulsive, a gymnastic performance that was terribly inartistic. 
The play itself is vapid and slow, without sufficient briskness to re- 
deem its absence of wit and oftentimes unfinished in detail. This 
was the first production of As in a Looking Glass in Boston. Mrs. 



188;]. Ime Highest Bidder. 65 

Langtry hi id brought the play out in New York the 19th. of 
September, having the questionable honor of giving then the first 
American exposition of the tale. In London Mrs. Bernard Beere, 
at the Opera Comique, on the i6th. of May had presented a version 
by F. C. Grove as the pioneer in the field. Frank Rogers con- 
itructed Mrs. Langtry's version. 

On the same evening that the noted English actress appeared 
at the Globe the son of a famous English actor made his Boston 
debut as a star at the HoUis Street. His father, the late Edward A, 
Sothern, of Dundreary fame, had left a " trunk ful of plays" that 
seemed destined to bring fortune to the younger of the name. 
Edward H. Sothern had been intended as a painter by his father, 
and he certainly has displayed talent as a sketch artist. But the 
youth preferred to follow the path beaten out by his parent and to 
that end served his apprenticeship under the elder Sothern in New 
York and at the Boston Museum, and then in spite of the objections 
of the older actor adopted the stage permanently, played in England, 
at one time with his brother Lytton Sothern, and in America as 
support to John McCullough, Estelle Clayton (sister to Isabelle 
Evesson) and Helen Dauvray, besides touring in a farce of his own, 
called Whose Are They ? as well as with several combination 
companies. Then in that '' trunkful of plays " he discovered 
The Highest Bidder, a farce-comedy that was to lift him from the 
ranks of ordinary actors to the eminence of a star. The elder 
Sothern had intended to play the piece in this country, but death 
intervened. He had suggested many of the incidents to the veteran 
author of Box and Cox, Madison Morton, and that famous farce 
creator, in conjunction with Robert Reece, another well-known 
dramatist, worked up the humorous auctioneer story. Originally it 
was called Trade, but when Manager Frohman of the New York 
Lyceum Theatre secured the play from the younger son of the 
comedian the title was changed to a more striking appellation, while 
certain modernizing changes were made by David Belasco. Sothern 
played the leading role at the initial performance at the Lyceum, 
May 3, 1887. 

The play shows the adventures of Jack Hammerton, a good- 
hearted, blundering ft;llow, who does his best for the father of his 



66 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [November, 

sweetheart, Rose Thornhill, when that worthy gentleman falls into 
such difficulties as to be obliged to sell his estate at auction. Jack, 
in friendship, acts as auctioneer, and furthermore secretly bids in the 
property, so as to restore it to the Thornhills. But his good inten- 
tions are misunderstood, as also are his efforts to relieve Rose from 
the mercenary designs of Sir Evelyn Graine, who is seeking her hand. 
Finally, however, the villany of Sir Evelyn is unmasked, and ex- 
planations, reconciliation and happiness follow. The piece unites 
the elements of farce and comedy, is padded and lightly constructed 
and not of high order. Mr. Sothern has talent, brightness and 
vivacity but in this work is inclined to burlesque the timidity of the 
bashful young auctioneer lover. Mr. C. B. Bishop's portrayal of 
the contradictory character of Chevoit, the rough old friend, was 
remarkably true and natural. 

Mr. Sothern was followed at the Hollis Street by another new star, 
Frederick Warde, who made his Boston debut during the week of 
November 28 — December 3. Born in Oxfordshire, England, the 
son of a schoolmaster, Frederick Warde upon the early death of his 
father was taken to London and at the age of fourteen was articled 
for five years' study of the law. He dug deep into the science of 
Coke and Blackstone for three years, but at the end of that time 
came to the conclusion he would not be satisfied forever to plead 
and argue. He longed to speak and act behind the footlights 
Through the kindly assistance of a friend young Warde secured an 
engagement, and on the 4th. of September, 1867, made his debut at 
the Lyceum Theatre, Sunderland, as the Second Murderer in Macbeth. 
Seven years later Warde appeared for the first time on an American 
stage, taking part in Boucicault's drama of Belle Lamar, that has 
since masqueraded under the Celtic title of Fin Mac Cool. This 
was at Booth's Theatre, and for three years the young actor filled the 
leading man's position in that house, afterward, however, trying his 
fortune on the road with Maurice Barrymore, John McCullough and 
Clara Morris. Mr. Warde is now in his 37th. year. 

The plays enacted by this tragedian were Virginius, Damon and 
Pytliias^ Gaston Cadol, and Galba. Writing for the Year-Book 
regarding his new plays Mr. Warde says : '' Gaston Cadol is a very 
free adaptation of a French play in metric verse called Jean D' 



188;]. The Barrister. 67 

Arcie7', [by M. Lomon] produced about ten years ago [April 28, 
1877] at the Theatre Francaise in Paris, the leading role being 
played by Coquelin. The present play is by Celia Logan and 
myself and was first produced at Pittsburg, Oct. 8, 1887. Galba is 
also a very free translation from Sauraet's Le Gladiatcttr by Leonard 
S. Outrara, formerly an actor in my company. It is played in Italian 
by Salvini but I do not know when or where it was first brought out. 
It was, I believe, originally written in French and translated into 
Italian by Giacomedi. I first played the present version in Provi- 
dence R. I., September 9, 1886." Signer Tommaso Salvini intro- 
duced Galba under the title of The Gladiator to the Boston people. 

Gaston Cadol (given the afternoon of Nov. 30 for the first time 
in Boston) is a romantic story of The Lady of Lyons stamp relating 
the love of a French peasant, afterwards raised by the revolution to 
a Colonelcy, for a high born girl, Therese de Trevenne, who at first 
looks down upon him, but who, after marrying him under the 
supposition that the ceremony was a mere form to save her life, is 
touched by his noble nature and learns to love him. Mr. Warde's 
style of acting is sincere, earnest and vigorous, strong in its impas- 
sioned force, and weakened only by a lack of delicate finish. 

At the Museum Sophia ended its six weeks run and The Barrister 
was given its first American hearing on the night of November 28. 
Originally brought out at Leeds, England, the March 19 preceding, it 
received the first metropolitan performance at the Comedy Theatre, 
London, September 6. The piece, a thorough farcical comedy, met 
with unqualified success as a mirth-provoking play. It is brisk in 
action, witty in text and has all the elements to cause a light en- 
joyable evening's entertainment. The comedy is by George 
Manville Fenn and J. H. Darnley, and in the London production 
the latter author created the part of Arthur Maxwell. Its story 
deals with conjugal complications caused by a servant, Tom Price, 
letting his master's rooms to another man who bears the same 
Christian name, leading the wife and betrothed of the individual 
'' Arthurs " to suppose their respective gentlemen false to them, 
while Arthur Maxwell's innocent kindness to a Miss Foster tangles 
the yarn still more. The Museum company brought out well the 
livehness and humor of the piece. 



y^ . . . ""if)* 

^-| December, g -^ 



Mrs. McKee Rankin in The Golden Giant. — Rosina Yokes in 
Which is Which, The Circus Rider, Cousin Zachary, The 
Widow's Device. — Booth and Barrett in Shakespearean 
Plays. — The Great Pink Pearl and Editha's Burglar. — 
The Soggarth at the Museum. — Little Puck. — Minnie 
Palmer in My Brother's Sweetheart. 

MINING drama of familiar stamp was given at the Hollis 
jJ5 Street Theatre, December 5, by Mrs. McKee Rankin, once- 
* time the Kitty Blanchard of the local stage. The title was 
T/ie Golden Giant and the authoritative record made May 31, 
1886, as the date of the original production by the Rankins in San 
Francisco. The flavor of their old piece, Gabriel Conroy, however 
hung around the drama, and none of its incidents were sufficiently 
novel, probable or well set in dialogue to warrant full approval. The 
story, by Clay M. Greene, deals with a young widow, Ethel Wayne, 
who marries Alexander Fairfax, the owner of the rich mine called 
" The Golden Giant," is persecuted by the rascally Duncan Lemoyne 
who brings forward the twin brother of the deceased first husband as 
that husband in life again, and is finally set right by the confession 
of Bixby, a tool of Lemoyne, and by the efforts of a Bret Harte 
style of good gambler. Jack Mason, whose love affair with Fairfax's 



THE THEATRE. 




OelWir) l©00fh) (zcs riarr)lef. 



188;]. Julius C^sar. 69 

sister Bessie forms a secondary plot of the drama. Mrs. Rankin's 
acting of the hoydenish Bess was brimming with natural animation, 
while Russell Bassett's impersonation of the semi-rascal Bixby was 
a finely conceived character sketch. 

It was in this week that Rosina Yokes returned to the Park, 
remaining for three weeks and presenting during that period several 
new comediettas. On the 5th. of December Which is Which by S. 
Theyre Smith and The Circus Rider by Mrs. Charles Doremus were 
given their first Boston performances. The former, originally played 
by Miss Yokes at Toronto, Can., September 21, shows Robert 
Capper testing his memory to tell which of two ladies is his child 
sweetheart, from whom he had been separated for years, and demon- 
strates that in spite of misleading hints the heart goes out to the 
right one. The Circtt,s Rider^ which Miss Yokes gave originally 
September 24, at Toronto, represents the young Lady Grafton 
mistaken by Lord Merton for the circus rider whom his friend 
Lord Weldon expected and her consequent discovery, by keeping 
up the delusion, of Lord Weldon's falsity to herself. 

Cousin Zacha7'y, by Hubert Gardner, was first played by Miss 
Yokes in San Francisco, November 19, and was given its Boston 
opening December 12. Zachary loves his cousin and ward Maggie, 
but, learning that the girl loves a protege of his, he sacrifices his own 
love for the sake of the others even after his ward has dutifully con- 
sented to marry him. The Widoiu's Device, given first in Boston 
December 21, is an old comedy, once-time called Lesson in Love 
and played in England by Charles Mathews, now shortened and ar- 
ranged by Cecil Clay. Miss Yokes first played the adaptation at 
Toronto the 26th of last September. 

During the time while Miss Rosina Yokes was giving the last two 
weeks' performances of her engagement at the Park, Edwin Booth 
and Lawrence Barrett were presenting at the Boston a series of 
Shakespearean plays. It was the first united appearance of the two 
as stars in Boston. In this city Julitis Ccesar was presented 
the entire week beginning December 12, with Edwin Booth as 
Brutus and Barrett as Cassius. During the second week were given 
Othello with Booth as lago, Barrett as Othello, Hamlet with Booth as 
Hamlet, Barrett as Laertes, L<^ing Lear with Booth as Lear, Barrett 



70 The Playgoers' Year-Book. [December, 

as Edgar, Merchant of Venice, the entire play, with Booth as 
Shylock, Barrett as Bassanio, and Macbeth with Booth as Macbeth 
and Barrett as Macduff. Receipts of the fortnight ^48,275. 

Comedy ruled at the Hollis Street the week beginning December 
12, William Gillette appearing in The Gi-eat Pink Pearl, which had 
been written for him by Cecil Raleigh and R. C. Carton in antici- 
pation of his appearing in the original performance at the Princess 
Theatre, London. The contemporaneous success, however, of his 
own play. Held by the Enemy, prevented his crossing the Atlantic. 
At the Princess, where the Pearl opened July 6, 1885, the play ran 
nearly a year. September 20, 1887, it was given its first successful 
American production at the N. Y. Lyceum Theatre with Mr. 
Sothern in the leading role, after having been tried originally in this 
country at Jersey City, N. J., May 24, 1886, under the title of '^Mis- 
taken Identity,''' and then failing. 

The play is an entertaining trifle, clever and sparkling in its far- 
cical features, and dealing with the adventures of a priceless pink 
pearl which the Princess Peninkoff wishes to sell. A miscarried 
letter from the Princess reaches Anthony Sheen, an impecunious 
journalist, and leads him to try, with his fellow-lodger, Gormain the 
dynamiter, to negotiate the sale of the jewel. The Prince has not 
been consulted by his wife regarding the proposed sale and he thinks 
the negotiating interviews are love affairs. Meanwhile a milliner 
sweetheart of Sheen captures the prize by stealth, and the Prince 
who has been playing the gallant to the girl gets the credit from his 
wife of having given it away. The pearl is finally restored to its 
owner after a number of wildly humorous scenes. 

The little sketch of Editha's Burglar, dramatized from Mrs. 
Frances Hodgson-Burnett's story — by Gus Thomas, an amateur 
actor of St. Louis, and Edgar Smith — was first given to the public 
with the initial performance of the Pearl in New York and was pre- 
sented with the longer piece at the Hollis Street. As originally 
written the sketch related to the nocturnal raid of a burglar who is 
surprised in the midst of his work by a little girl in night-gown, who 
prattles to him artlessly, gives him advice, and finally is discovered 
to be the burglar's own daughter whom he had not seen for years, 
and who had been adopted by the owner of the home. Mr. Gil- 



1887]. The Soggarth. 71 

lette introduced a second burglar and added a minor comedy part to 
the pathetic coloring of the piece after the play was put on the road. 
A bright little child-star, Elsie Leslie, carried the role of Editha and 
made, with success, her debut in Boston. 

It is in these words that the author of The Soggarth, the new play 
brought out first in Boston at the Museum, December 19, describes 
its origin : 

" The Soggarth thus originated with me : In Januai-y, 1S85, at the Sav- 
age Club, I heard Mr. Brandon Thomas recite a poem entitled 'Father 
Roach.' The inherent dramatic force of the lines so impressed me that I 
determined on using the main incident as the motive for the plot of a 
stage plav. Subsequent enquiry led me to believe that the poem was 
founded on a fact derived from the records of a celebrated criminal trial. 
I have woven a fiction around the one salient episode in ' Father Roach,* 
and the drama, The Soggarth, is the result. GEORGE DARRELL." 
Melbourne, Australia, Sept. 30, 1887. 

The original production of the drama had been in Australia 
January, 1887, and its initial American performance by a travelling 
company at Troy, N. Y., Nov. 24. Silas Crane, a discharged 
steward of the Irish estates of Lord Glenmore, murders Neil Mag- 
uire, a tenant with whom he has quarreled. Hiding at the approach 
of Glenmore he re-appears, after the landlord has ridden away in 
hot haste to summon aid, and catching up the riding whip which 
Lord Glenmore had dropped smears it with blood. The Earl, 
meanwhile, had been thrown from his horse and when brought back 
to the scene where neighbors had already arrived is too dazed to ex- 
plain satisfactorily the real facts. He is arrested, found guilty and 
saved from the mob only by a guard of soldiers. But Crane, the 
murderer, cringing in the holy church at confessional, reveals to 
Father Maguire, the Soggarth, his guilt and yet the priest, bound by 
professional duty, is unable to disclose the truth. Happily, how- 
ever, at the very last moment Crane makes a confession to the 
Soggarth outside of the church which is overheard ; and he is 
dragged away to court where affairs are promptly set right. The 
Soggarth is fairly interesting, its strong points lying in its pictur- 
esqueness and its several exciting scenes, its weak points in the 
excess of dialogue and the dispersion of interest. The parts were 
well sustained at the Museum. 



72 



The Playgoers' Year-Book. [December, 



Frank Daniels had gained such fame as Old Sport in Hoyt's Rag 
Baby that he was put upon the list of stars in 1887 and sent forth 
with Little Puck, first performing at Buffalo, N. Y., September 18, 
and reaching the Globe Theatre, Boston, December 19. The 
musical comedy is a dramatization, by A. C. Gunter, Fred. 
Maeder, Robert Frazer and Howard P. Taylor, of F. Anstey's odd 
story " Vice Versa," which has as its central idea the transformation, 
by means of a talisman, of father into boy and son into man, the old 
gentleman being relegated once more to the vexations of school life 
and the youth being suddenly lifted into the excitements of mature 
manhood. It is briskly amusing. 

The last new play of the year was Leonard Grover's My Brother'' s 
Sister which heralded the return of Miss Minnie Palmer to Boston. 
The play was given at the HoUis Street, December 26, having been 
originally played in Liverpool, Eng., October 22, for copyright pur- 
poses, under the title of Nadine. that being the name of the heroine. 
She is the daughter of a much impoverished French baron and in 
order to make a livelihood is obliged to don boy's clothes and play 
the newsboy, bootblack and errand boy. A rich young lady of 
society turns her spite against a gentleman, who has disdained her 
affection, by inducing this '' street boy," as she supposes him, to 
bring his sister to the house that the low-born girl may be introduced 
to the young man in the role of a blue-blood heiress. Nadine re- 
sumes her proper garments and becomes the sister of herself, wins the 
lover and then, when the jilted woman seeks her revenge by dis- 
closure, turns the table by showing that noble blood flows in her veins* 



The Howard Atheneum had its usual variety of specialty and 
melodrama during the year, two features worthy of particular 
mention being the first appearance in Boston as a star of Frederick 
Br}'ton who played Forgiven on January 3, and afterwards appeared 
with success in the same piece at the Globe ; and the first appearance 
of James C. Roach as a star in Boston, in Dan Darcy, Nov. 28th. 

The Bijou Theatre which started December 11, 1882, as a high 
priced fashionable theatre and became in August, 1886, a popular 
priced theatre was merged with the Gaiety jMuseum on the first of 
August, 1887, and transformed into a dime-museum. 




^■~:X!^--- 



MY sweetheart" MINNIE PALMER. 



CASTS OF CHARACTERS. 



Of iviportant new plays and 



revivals during 



the year i88y. 



PARK THEATRE. 



CrretcBaeii. 



By W. S. Gilbert. 



January 3. 


First I 


'ertormance in Boston. 


Gretchen 




Miss May Fortescue 


Faustus 




Fred K. Terry 


Gottfried 




Charles Overton 


Anselm 




W. H.Crotnpton 


Dominie 




J. II. Durliam 


Friccirich 




John Findl-jy 


Mephisto 




Newtnn Gotthold 


Martha 




Miss Kute Ilodson 


Lisa 




Miss F. Ferrars 


Agaiha 




Miss Alice Crov; ther 


Bessie 




Miss Lilian Billina-s 


Barbara 




Miss Grace Hall 


BOSTO^q- 


THEATRE. 




C^alatea. 



Opera by Victor Masse. 
Arranged by Frederick A. Schwab. 

January 5. First Performance in Boston. 

Galatea Miss Laura Moore 

Pj'.artnalion Mrs. Jessie BartlettDavis 

Midas vVilliani Hamilton 

Can} mede John K. Brand. 



HOLLIS STREET THEATRE. 



Idaniela. 



By Felix Phillipi. 

Translated by W. Von Sachs and 
E. Plamilton Bell. 

January 5. First Performance in Boston. 

Egon, Count von Lexow 

Maurice Barrymore 
Baron Kurt von Burgen E. Hamilton Bell 



Dr. Carl Nordon 

Ferdmand Arndt 

Felix Friederbusdi 

Brauer 

Fritz 

Wilhelm 



Ian Robertson 

Charles VandenhofF 

William F. Owen 

Hn-.vcU Il-.insel 

Robert Taber 

Charles B. Kellev 



Daniela, Countess von Lexow 

Mme. Modjeska 
Toni von Lexow Grace Henderson 



GLOBE THEATRE. 



TSie Main Eiine. 



By H. C. DeMille and Charles 
Baknard. 

January 17. Fii'st Performance in Boston. 

Possy Burroughs 
Dora Van Tyne 



Miss Etta Hawkins 
Miss Eloise Willis 



74 



The Playgoers' Year-Book. 



Little Prairie Flower Miss Dora Stuart 


Col. Jack Hutton 


Frederick B. Conway 


Lawrence Ilatton 


T. B. Mason 


Zcrubbabcl Puddvchump Harrv Allen 


Addlcton B. Spline Harry Mills 


Sam Burroug'hs 


J. ^V. Ha^ue 
H. C. DeMille 


Jim Blakely 


BOSTON THEATKE. 


IKieiizi. 


By Mary Russell Mitford. 


January 17. 


Revival 


Cola Di Rienzi 


Lawrence Barrett 


Stephen Colonna 


Ben. G. Rotters 


John Ursini 


Charles M. Collins 


Angelo 


Cliarles Welles 


SavcUi 


Frederick Vroom 


Frangipani 


Kendall Weston 


Toreili 


J. W. Albau<?h, Jr. 


Leonardo 


J. L. Finney 


Jacopo 


W. M. Stuart 


Camilo 


S. E. Springer 


Alberti 


Charles Koelalcr 


Paolo 


J. M. Sturgeon 
Miss Minna K Gale 


Claudia 


Lady Colonna 


Miss Minnie Monk 


LolaSavelli 


Miss Miriam O'Leary 


HOLLIS STREET THEATRE. 


Fill Mac Cool. 


By Dion Boucicault. 


February 3. 


Original Performance. 


Isabel Blia:h 


Miss Georgia Cayvan 


Cuba 


Miss Julia Stuart 
H.J. Lethcourt 


Philip Bligh 
Little Phil 


Miss Lulu Pendleton 


Chauncy Lamar 


W. J. Ferguson 


Dr. P.Icrryweather 


Ml. Padgett 


Uncle Dau 


Dan Maguinnis 


Jakey 


Fritz \v illiams 


Schuyler 


Fred Corbett 


Rhett 


Walter Treville 


P'indcxter 


Mr. Colby 


Sentinel 


Mr. Jones 


Pat Dwyer 


Mr. Welch 


Katie 


Miss Marion Elmore 


Fin 


Dion Boucicault 


Doris 


Miss Louise Thorndyke 


PARK 


THEATRE. 


Hoodmafi SQiiid. 


By Henry Arthur Jones and Wilson- 


Barrett. 


February 7. First Performance in Boston. 


Jack Yculett 
Mr. Lcndon 


Joseph Haworth 


Wflliam J. Leonard 



Mark Lezzard 

Ben. Chibbles 

Jo Swirrup 

Kridge 

Mad Willy 

Tom Lattiker 

Noah Quodling 

Jim Dadge 

Tomtit 

Kit 

Ephraim Beevor 

Abe Chawner 

Inspector Jermin 

Jclks 

Footman 

Attendant 

John Twite 

Policeman 

Bob Swirrup 

Nipper Jelks 

Nance Yeulett ) 

Jess _ \ 

Grannv Qiiodling 

Polly Chi;)bles 

Mrs. Chawner 

Liz 

Mrs. Beevor 

Kitty 



Augustus Cook 

Sidney Howard 

George Conway 

George S. Fleming 

L. J. Williams 

M. B. Snyder 

Norman Campbell 

Conway Carpenter 

Miss Carrie Elbcrts 

Little Aimee 

B. H. Roberts 

W. A. Edwards 

H. R. Bradley 

J. T. Fletcher 

Conway Carpenter 

L. J. Saunders 

L. Q^ Devine 

Fred McClellan 

Christopher Harford 

Charles Daly 

Miss Sydney Armstrong 

Miss Jennie Elberts 

Miss Bessie Bernard 

Miss E. Blaisdell 

Miss Rose Snyder 

Mrs. O. Stoddard 

Miss May Terry 



GLOBE THEATRE. 



JLorraine. 



Opera by Rudolph Dellingek. 

February 14. First Performance in Boston. 

Lorraine Signor Perugini 

Louis XIV George Olmi 

Gaspard de Chateauvieux De Wolf Hopper 
D'Effiat Harry Standish 

Ollivier de la Tour 

Mme. Mathilde Cottrelly 

Herndon Morsell 

Gi;ard A. M. Barbara 

Miss Gertrude Griswold 

Miss Emily Soldene 

Miss Josie Knapp 



Pcire 

Captain of Kint 

Madeline 

Oudarde 

Louise la Valliere 



PARK THEAT^RE. 

TSie §e1liooIasBi§ta*eiss. 

By a. W. Pineko. 
February 2S. First Performance in Boston. 
Hon. 



Vere Queckett Weedon Grossmith 
Rear Admiral Rankling 



Lieut. Mallory 

Mr. Saunders 

Mr. Paulover 

Otto Bernstein 

Tyler 

GofF 

JefTray 



Yv'. G. Elliott 

Julian Ma.gnus 

T. Roberts 

Courtenay Thorpe 

Malcolm Bell 

Charles Rivers 

R. Charles 

J. Rolfe 



Casts of Characters. 



75 



Mrs. Rankling Miss May Carcw 

■^liss Dvott Miss Helena Dacie 

Dinah Rankling Miss Madge Banister 

Gwendoline Kawkins Miss Isabella Irving 
Ennyntrude Johnson INIiss Agnes Miller 

Jane'Chipman Miss Margatet Trelawner 
Peggy Hesslerigge Miss Rosina Vokes 

BOSTOISr THEATRE. 



Siady dasacsfti'ty. 



By Tom 

February 28. 
King William III, 
Eari of Portland 
Lord WoodstocK 
Loid Spencer 
Earl Clancarty 
Sir John Friend 
.Sir GeorLTC Barclay 
Cardell Gcoman 
Cha' nock 
Rokewood 
Vaughan 
Knightly 
Robert Hunt 
Gille 
Tremlett 
Pi:ince Anne 
Lady Betty Nole 
Susannah 
Mother Hunt 
Lady Clancarty 



Taylor. 

Revival. 

Frederick A. Everill 

G. Raieniond 

Joseph Carne 

H. A. Weaver 

C. F. Coghlan 

G. S. Stevens 

W. Lennox Jr. 

S.J. Browne 

C. Henderson 

H. Lin pew 

F. Chambers 

B. Harrison 

"William Spencer 

Sydney Herbert 

A. Taylor 

Miss A. Sutherland 

Miss Kate Pattison 

Miss Calvert 

Mrs. Charles Calvert 

Mrs. Langtry 



BOSTON MUSEUM. 

Antoinette ISig-awd. 

By M. Deslandes. 

Adapted by Ernest Warren. 

March 7. First Performance in America. 

Captain Henri de Tourvel E.H. Vanderfelt 



General de Piefond 
Mons. Rigaud 
Paul Sann'.y 
^lons. Bernadet 
Mons. Rochard 
Corporal Pierre 
Jean 

Antoinette Rigaud 
Marie de Prefond 
Mme. Bernadet 
Mme. Rochard 



Alfred Hudson 

Frazer Coulter 

F. M. Br.rbcck 

Arthur Falkland 

E. E. Rose 

H.P. Whittemore 

J. K. Applcbee, Jr. 

Miss Isabellc Evesson 

Miss Maida Craigen 

Miss Helen Dayre 

Miss Lallie Lee 



PARK THEATRE. 
'ffSie Queen's IFavorite. 

By Euge.ve Scribe, 
Adapted by Sydney Grundy. 
March 14. First Performance in Boston. 

Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke 

\V, H. Vernon 



Ensign Masham D. G. English 

Marquis De Torcey. Lionel Bland 

Officer of Q^ieen's Household 

Percy Winter 
Qijcen Anne Miss Gertrude Kellor'g 

Abigail Hill Miss Eleanor Tvndale 

Duchess of Marlborou^rh 

Miss Genevieve Ward 



HOLLIS STREET THEATRE. 
€rypsy ISaroEB. 



Opera, music b 
uETTo by Jok; 
March 14. First 
SafH 
Czipra 
Arsena 
Mirabella 
Sandor Barinkay 
Ottocar 

Kalman Zsupan 
Count Carnero 
Covmt Homonay 
Sidi 
Ilka 
Katinka 
Ferko 
xMihaly 
Bunko 



Y JonANN- Strauss, lib- 

\Y AND SCIINITSEK. 

Performance in Boston. 

Laura Bellini 

Helene voa DouhofF 

Lydia O'Neill 

Jenny RcifFerth 

Harry De Lorme 

SigTaglieri 

Jacques Kriiger 

Gusiavus F. Hall 

Fred Urban 

Annie Ulm 

"Willie Dean 

Josie Dezendorf 

Walter \\ est 

Theodore Price 

T. Griffin 



GLOBE THEATRE. 
Miidclygrore. 



Opera music by Arthur Sullivan, 
libretto by w. s. gilbekt. 
April 4. First Performance in Boston. 

Robin Oakapple Chas. Reed 

Ricnard Dauntless Phil. Bronson 

Sir Dcspard Murgatroyd } gig. Brocolini 

of Ruddygore ) 

Old Adam Goodheart Joseph Fay 

Sir Roderick Murgatroyd 

Geo. Frotl)ingham 
Rose Maybud Miss Helen Lament 

Mad Margaret Miss Alic-i Carle 

Dame Hannah Miss Emma Raker 

Zora Miss Edith Jcnnesse 

Ruth Miss Huttie Clark 



HOLLIS STREET THEATRE. 

T'lae Elarl. 

By Edgar Fawcett. 
April II. Original Performance. 

Edmund, Earl of Cleveden George Riddle 



Lord Hubert Illsleigh 

Lord Falkstone 

Sir Henry Claverlng- 

D.avid 

Lady Marian Falkstone 

Prudence 



Richard J. Dillon 

Herbert Archer 

C. A. Warde 

Chas. Stedman 

Miss Belle Archer 

Miss Rachel Noah 



76 



The Playgoers' Year-Book. 



I 



PARK THEATRE. 



Meg* Merriflies. 



Dramatization 



of Scott' 
nering-." 



" Guy Man- 



April 25. 

Meg Merrilies 
Dandie Dinmont 
Henry Bertram 
Colonel Guy Mannerin 
Dominie Sampson 
Bailie Bearcliflf 
Gilbert Glosson 
Dirk Platterick 
Jacob Tabos 
Gabriel 
Sebastian 
Farmer 
Sergeant 

iulia Marnering 
.ucy Bertram 
Mrs. McCandlish 
Flora 
Franco 



Revival. 

Janauschek 

George D. Chaplin 

Alexander li. Stuart 

g James Garden 

E. A. Eberle 

T. Beverly 

Giles Shine 

Beverly W. Turner 

M. Brewer 

Louis Bresn 

Stephen Jannus 

Howell Clark 

G. Connor 

Miss Marston Leigh 

Miss Lavinia Shannon 

Miss Kate Fletcher 

Miss Josephine C. Bailey 

Miss Burton 



PARK THEATRE. 



By Sir Charles Young. 
May 2. First Performance in Boston, 

Frederic Robinson 
H. M. Piit 

Alexander Salvini 

E. M. Holland 

L. F. Massen 

J. B. Booth, Jr. 

C. P. Flockton 

William Davidge 

Harry J. Ilollidav 

IL Milhvard 

W.Hillsdorf 

Agnes Booth 

Miss Marie Burroughs 



James Raiston 

Louis Pcreival 

Baron liartfeld 

Captain Redwood 

Lord Drelincourt 

Jack Ralston 

Mr. Chapstone, Q. C. 

Dr. Petty wise 

Mr. Nctherby, M. P. 

George 

John, 

Nina, (Mrs. Ralston) 

Agnes, 

Lady Dunscombe 

Mrs. Chapstone 



Miss May Broolilyn 
Miss May Robson 



BOSTON MUSEUM. 
I>r. JeliyM and JUa*. IIy«le. 

Dramatized byT. R. Sullivan fom R. L. 

Stevenson's romance of tliat name. 

May 9. Original Performance- 

Dr. Jekyll ) Richard Mansfield 

Mr. Hyde ] 

Genera) Sir Dan vers Carew Bo>d Putnam 
Dr. Lanyon Alfred Hudson 



Gabriel Utterson Frazer Coultet 

Poole James Burrows 

Inspector Newcomen Arthur Falkland 

Jarvis J. K. Applebee, Jr. 

Agnes Carew Miss Isabellc Evesson 

Mrs. Lanyon Miss Kate Ryan 

Rebecca Moor Miss Emma Sheridan 

BOSTON MUSEUM. 



Tamtng* oi' t^ie JiSireM". 



By William Shakespeare. 



May 23. 



First Performance in entirety in 
Boston. 



Characters 1 


N THE " Induction." 


A Lord 




George Clarke 


Chiistopher 


Sly 


William Gilbert 


The Hostess 


Miss May Amber 


A Page 




Master W.Collier 


Huntsmen 


Mr 


Holliwood, Mr. Murphy 


Players 




Mr. Bond, Mr. Wood 


Persons 


IN the Comedy. 


Baptista 




Charles Fisher 


Vincentio 




John Moore 
Otis Skinner 


Lucentio 




Petrucio 




John Drew 


Gremio 




Chas. Leclercq 


Hortensio 




Joseph Holland 


A Pedant 




John vVood 


Grumio 




James Lewis 


Biondello 




E. P. V/ilks 


Tranio 




Fred'k Bond 


Katherine 




Miss Ada Rehan 


Bianca 




Miss Vira-inia Dreher 


A Widow 




Miss Jean Gordon 
Mrs. G. H. Gilbert 


Curtis 





AT MANCHESTER-BY-THE- 

SEA. 

As Y©M Eiifee It. 

By William Shakespeare. 



August S. 

Rosalind 

Orlando 

Jaques 

Duke Frederick 

Touchstone 

Oliver 

Jaques Dubois 

Sylvius. 

William 

Le Beau 

Amiens 

And ray 

Celia 

Phoebe 

Adam 

Banished Duke 

Cliarlcs, the Wrestler 

First Lord 



Open air Performance. 

Rose Coghlan 

Osmond Tcarle 

Frank Maj'o 

Frazer Coulter 

Stuart Robson 

Charles Abbot 

George C. lioniface, Jr. 

Arthur Falkland 

W. H. Crane 

Fred. Conway 

Lillian Conway 

Agnes Booth-Schoi ffel 

Minnie Conwny 

Maida Craig( r 

George Boniface, Sr. 

Maik Price 

Harry Meredith 

C. E. Boardm;;i) 



Casts of Characters. 



77 




A prologue was especially written for the 
occasion by VV. T. W. Ball and delivered by 
Mrs. Schouifel as hostess of the day. > he 
incidental songs were sung- by Lillian 
Conway, as Amiens, and by a double quar- 
tette that included Charles R. Adams, 
Henry C. Barnahee, W. II. McDonald and 
(ieorge W. Want and tlie Mendelssohn 
Quartette. 

BOSTON MUSEUM. 



Tlie 19oifiiiiite's» Itaiisratter 



By David D. Lloyd. 
August 29. First Performance in Boston. 
Rev. John Van Derveer Alfred Hudson 

Captain Dyke Charles (Jarron 

Major Barton Frazer Coulter 

Hiram Brown George W. Wilson 

Lieut. Robert Van Derveer 

Edgar L. Davenport 
Peter Bogardus ^ E. E. Rose 

Nicholas'Onderdonk H. P. Whittemore 

Jacobus Polhemus W. Holliwood 

"A Soldier J. K. Applebee, Jr. 

Molly Van Derveer Miss Isabella Evcsson 
Mrs. Kczia Beekman Mis. J. R. Vincent 
Dorothy Beekman Miss Helen Dayne 

Ann Stryker Miss Kate Ryan 



BOSTON THEATRE. 
A Hufi of liucli. 



By Henry 



Pettit and Augustus 
Harhis. 

First Pertormance in 
x\merica. 

Forrest Robinson 

vV. H. Crompton 

J. F. Dean 

Fred, G. Ross 

Franlc Losee 

D. 1. Maguinnis 

^ Frank E. Lamb 

Joe Bunny, Sheriff's Officer ^V. T. Wheeler 



September 



Harry Copsley 
John Copsley 
Squire Selby 
George Selby 
Capt. Arthur Trevor 
Charlie Sandown 
Jim Ladvbird 



Lawyer Parsons 
E. T. Chonn 
Judge Parks 
Lord Earlswood 
Hughey Hawthorne 
The Colonel 
Station Master 
Tom Catchpole 
Telegraph Operator 
Auctioneer 
Railway Porter 
Daisy Copsley 
Mabel Selby 
Aunt Mary 



C. A. Warde 

R. S. Finlev 

C. H. Miller 

Russell Hunting 

R.C. Varian 

Walter Penniman 

W. A. Carl 

F. L. Jameison 

W. K. Sylvester 

S. E. Fredericks 

J. W. Taylor 

Miss Minnie Radcliff"e 

Miss Lillian Lee 

Mrs. W. G. Jones 



Phoebe Wood 

Mrs. Willmore 

Mrs. Seyraop.r 

Maud De Lacy 

Parker 

Mary 

Lucy Byefield 



Miss Rosa France 
Miss Florence Robmson 
Miss May Merrick 
Miss Edith Clinton 
Miss Karoline Beekman 
Miss Rac Harrison 
Miss Grace Thorne 



BOSTON MUSEUM. 



'T3ie Red ILstmp. 



By W. Outram Tristram. 

September 19. First Performance in 

America. 
Paul Demetrius Charles Barron 

General MoraKoff" Alfred Hudson 

Allen Villiers William Seymour 

Prince Alexis Valerian 

Edgar L. Davenport 



Ivan Zazzulic 

Kertch 

Count Bohrenheim 

Turgan 

Rheinveck 

Tolstoi 

Officer of Police 

Servant 



Frazer Coulter 

C. E. Boardraan 

J. Burrows 

Boyd Putnam 

E. E. Rose 

H. P. Whittemore 

J. Thompson 

J. K. Applebee, Jr. 



Princess Claudia Morakoff" 

Miss Annie Clarke 
Olga Morakoff" Miss Isabel! e Evesson 

Felise Miss Annie Chester 

Madame Dannenberg Miss Kate Ryan 

Countess Voelcker Miss Grace P. Atwell 



BOSTON MUSEUM. 



§02>9ii£t. 



By Robert Buchanan. 



Founded 



October 17 

Mr. AUworthy 

Squire Western 

Blifil 

Tom Jones 

Squire 

Parson Supple 

Farmer Copse 

Partridge 

Georofe Seagrim 

A Gamekeeper 

Fotherinsray 

Sophia \Testern 

Miss Tabitha Western 

Mistress Honour 

Lady Bellaston 

Mollv Seagrim 

Maid 



'Tom 



n Fielding's novel, 

Jones." 
First Performance in Boston. 
Alfred Hudson 
William Seymour 
Edgar L. Davenport 
Chas. Barron 
J. Nolan 
H. P. Whittemore 
J. Burro\vs 
Geo. W. Wilson 
(J. E. Boardman 
E. E. Rose 
J. K. Applebee , Jr. 
Miss Isabel Evesson 
Mrs. Farren 
Miss Helen Dayne 
Miss Annie Clarke 
Miss Alay Davenport 
Miss Grace Atwell 



78 



The Playgoers' Year-15ook 



HO] -LIS STREET THEATRE. 

JPBirj^iie: TSie ISoinaiicc 

of a Yoaisagr ^Viie. 

By Dion Boucicault. 
October 17. First 
Jack O'Beime 
Phryne 

Mark Carrington 
Vereker 
Lord Billerica 
Mrs. Downey- 
Rita Martinez 
Sir Dudley Colpoys 
Barbara 

Lord Hurlingham 
Ma^sfie 
Lady Florence 
Ladv Goodwood 
Miss Kate Rideout 
Gus Venables 
Bunj'on 



Performance in Boston. 

Dion Boucicault 

Miss Louise Thorndyke 

Atkiiis Lawrence 

Chas. A. Smily 

Fritz Williams 

Mrs. Barker 

Miss Helen Bancroft 

J. C. radgett 

Miss Julia Stuart 

A. H. Woodhull 

Miss Maud White 

Miss Belie Ingalls 

Miss Dalmau 

Miss She|)ley 

Mr. Edwards 

Herbert Colby 



GLOBE THEATRE. 



As in a SiOOliing* Crlass. 



Dramatization of F. C. Phillips's novel. 
November 21. First Performance in Boston. 
Capt. Jack Forlinbras Maurice Barrymore 
Lord tjdolpho Daysay Mark Lynch 

Count Pa'il Dromiroff Frederick A. Evcrill 



H. A. Weaver 

Louis Calve.-t 

Sidney Herbert 

George Raiemond 

Waller Lennox, Jr. 

W. Nicholson 

William Sptncer 

Walter Pleugh 

E. S. Percy 

M. Jones 

Miss Hattie Russell 



Sir Thomas Gage 

Algernon Balfour 

Capt. Frank Fairfield 

Alons. Camille 

Major Roberts 

Lord Benley 

Footman 

Waiter 

No ton 

Kalmuck 

Lady Darner 

Miss Ueatrice Vyse 

Miss Kathrine Florence 
Lady Gage Miss Rose Koberts 

Felicie Miss Nadage Doree 

Lena Despard Mrs. Langtry 

UOLLIS STREET THEATRE. 



Tlie Kigrliest JSidflci*. 

Bv Madison Morton and Robert Reece ; 

Reconstructed by David Belasco, 
November 21. First Performance in Boston* 
Jack Hammerton E. 11. SoUiern 



Lawrence Thurnhill 

Bonham Chevoit 

Sir Muffin Struggles 

Sir Evelyn Graine 

Frank Wiggins 

Joseph 

Sergeant Dcwney 

Bill 

Messenger '1222," 

Servant^' 

Rose Thornhin 

Mrs. Honiton Lacy 

Louisa 



W. B.Rovston 

Chas. B. Bishop 

Rovirland Buckstone 

Herbert Archer 

W. Davenport 

A. W. Gregory 

R. Grant 

Charles Jeh linger 

E. B. Sanger 

Francis Raynes 

Belle Archer 

Maude Mowbray 

Ethelyn Friend 



bostojS" museum. 
Tlae !Ba3*ri§t;er. 

By G. Manville Fenn and J. H. 
Darnley. 

November 2S. First Performance in 
America. 



Arthur Maxwell 

Capt. Arthur Walker 

Tom Price 

Major Dravton 

Jack Rod.ick 

ISIr. Jenkins 

Crisp 

W aiter 

Mrs. Maxwell 

Kilty Drayton 

INIiss Ellen Fayre 

Jane Price 

Miss Foster 



Ciiarles Barron 

Eraser Couker 

Geo. \V. Wilson 

Alfred Hudsin 

E. L. Davenport 

William Seymour 

C. E. Boardinan 

J. Nolan 

Miss Annie Clarke 

Miss 1 lelen Dayne 

Miss Isabella Evesson 

Miss Kate Ryan 

Miss May Davenport 



HOLLIS STREET THEATRE. 

Or A Son of the Soil. 



Adapted by Celia Logan from Lomon's 
yean D'Arc/er. 
November 30. First Performance in Boston. 



Gaston Cadol 

Landrol 

Count de Trevenne 

Engene de Villeray 

DeLa Tour 

Pradeau 

Bonnefois 

Pierre 

Guillaume 

Shau-.non 

Municipal Officer 

Therese 

Natalie 

Bridesmaid 



Frederick Warde 

Clarence Handyside 

L. F. Rand 

Thomas E. Garrick 

William Stuart 

Joseph A. Ransome 

Walter H. Edwa ds 

Chas. H. Clark 

Chas. B. Charters 

Geo. Reed 

Geo. N. Saunders 

Miss Eugenie Blair 

Miss Margaret Pierce 

Miss Flora Gaines 



Casts of Characters. 



79 



HOLLTS STREET THEATRE. 
TSie CrOflden Criant. 

By Clay M. Greene. 
December 5. First Performance in Boston^ 
Rnlph Delmorc 
\Vm. S. Ilnikins 
Chas. Kidder 
Chas. T- Greene 
Russell Bassett 
Robert Mur-ray 
M. Blanchard 
Ah Wung Sing 
Mrs. McKee Rankin 
Miss Leonore BigiJow 
Miss Marian Strick and 
Harold Kidder 



Alexander Fairfax 

Jack Mason 

Duncan Lemoyne 

Max Wayne 

Bixby 

Flynh 

Jackson 

Jim Lung 

Bessie Fairfax 

Ethel Gray 

Mrs. Boggs 

Jack Mason Fairfax 



BOSTOISr THEATRE. 



By William Shakespeare. 



December la. 

Brutr.s 

Cassius 

Mark Antony 

Julius Caesar 

Decius 

Casca 

OcLavius Csesar 

Metellus Cimber 

Popilius Lenas 

Titinius 

Trebonius 

Cmna 

Soothsayer 

Pindarus 

Servius 

Flavins 

Lucius 

Firs^ Citizen 

Second Citizen 

Portia 

Calphurnia 



Revival- 
Edwin Booth 
Lawrence Barrett 
E. J. Buckley 
John A. Lane 
Charles Collins 
Ben G. Rogers 
Lawrence Hanley 
L. J. Henderson 
Frederic Vroom 
J. L. P'innev 
Charles' B. Hanford 
Edwin Royle 
Beaumont Smith 
Kendall Weston 
Walter Thomas 
M. C. Stone 
Miss Miriam O'Leary 
Owen Fawcctt 
Charles Koehler 
Miss Minna K. Gale 
Miss Elizabeth Robins 



HOLLIS STREET THEATRE. 
Tlie CJ-i*eat l»iiili IPearl. 

By R. C. Carton and Cecil Raleigh. 
December 12. First Performance in Boston. 



Prince Paul PeninkoflF 

Count Serge Keronine 

Anthony Sheen 

Patruccio Gorraani 

Valovitch 

Georsre Lillicarp 

Albert 

Ivan 

Watijon 

Commissary of Police 



Frank Carlvle 

R. F. Cotton 

William Gillette 

Charles Bradshaw 

Hardy Vernon 

Raymond Holmes 

George E. Poulett 

Ch-is. Rowland 

Geo. Randall 

Thomas Crane 



Princess Peninkofi Mme. de Naucaze 

Mary Turner Miss Dora Lormg 

Jessie Miss Svdney Cowcll 

Mrs. Sharpus Mrs. Germon 



£:dltBia'i§ ISurg-lar. 

By Gus Thomas and Edgar Smith. 

Re-written by William Gillette. 

Dramatized from Mrs. Frances Hodgson — 
Burnett's Story. 

December 12. First Performance in Boston. 
Bill Lewis William Gillette 

Paul Benton Hardy Vernon 

Editha Elsie Leslie 

Shannon George E. Poulette 



BOSTON MUSEUM. 
T'lie Sogrgrai'tfa. 

By George Darrell. 
December 19. First Performance in Boston. 
Edgar Pontifex, Earl of Gleiimore 

Charles Barron 
Major Herbert DeBrett Frazer Coulter 

Father Maguire, the Soggarth 

Alfred Hudson. 



Neil Maguire 
Silas Crane 
Tim The Craze 
Locky Muldavey 
Patrick Maguire 
Cassidy 
The Judge 
Lieut. Danvers 
Inspector Bluff 
Haiidy 



E. L. Davenport 

Geo. W. Wilson 

C. E. Boardman 

William Seymour 

J. Nolan 

J. Bui rows 

H. P. \vhittemore 

E. E. Rose 

J. K. Applebce, Jr. 

vV. L. Robinson 



Nourine Maguire Miss Isabelle Evesson 
Lady Ruby Pontifex Miss Annie Clarke 
Elsie Maginnis Miss Kate Ryan 

Molly Magrudy Miss Annie Chester 

Norah Doolan Miss Grace Atwell 

HOLLIS STREET TflEATRE. 
My ISrotlaer's Jtiister. 

By Leonard Grover. 
Dec. 26. First Performance in Boston. 

Nadine Minnie Palmer 

AcliiUe Henried de la Bernadot 

C. A. McMaims 
Mrs. Livingston Miss Virginia liuchanan 
Richard Livingston Hal Clarendon 

Geraldine Previous Miss Carrie Reynolds 
Waldcofler Grosserby Marlande Clarke 

Mary Ann Miss Nellie Sheldtm 

Mr. Lawrence C. W. Allison 

OfHcer Heinrich Hawk j. Teakins 

Walker J. Patterson 



8o The Playgoers' Year-Book. 

Tlieatre ©ifficSaBs. GLOBE THEATRE. 



BOSTON MUSEUM. 

Opened June 14, 1S41 : — New Building 

opened N ov. 2, 1S46 : — Seats 1400. 
Manager R. M. Field 

Acting and Stage Manager, Wm. Seymour 
Treasurer 

Assistant Stage Manager 
Box Office \ 



Musical Director 
Scenic Artist 

Mechanical Dep't. 

Property Men 

Calcium Dep't. 

Costumers 



'vVm. 1 1 . Emery 

J. R. Pitman 

5 C. B. Whittcmore 

/ E. C. Battey 

George Purdy 

E. LaMoss 

( Geo. Bell 

( Chas. Hicks 

k Frank Goodwin 

\ J. Duffy 

( John Witherell 

( Wm. Dunham 

Miss Kaie Ilight 

Miss Susan Mason 



HOWAED ATHENEUM. 

Opened Oct. 13, 18^5:— Burned Feb. 25, 

1S46 : — Re-opened Oct. 5, 1S46. 

Seats 1500. 

Prep's, and Managers 

Stage Manager 

Leader of Orchestra 

T'easurcr 

Ticket Agent 

Supt. of Advertising 

Machinist 

Master of Properties 

Gas Engineer 



^Vm. Harris & Co. 

Geo. B. Radcliff 

Loufe Baer 

B. Y. Tryon 

Wm. H. Gallagher 

Tohn BoAvman 

B. B. Harris 

Wm. O'Brien 

Geo. B. Bowman 



BOSTOX THEATRE. 



Opened Sept. 

Prop, and Manager 
Business Agent 
Stage Manager 
Musical Director 
Master of Auxiliaries 

Scenic Artists 



Machinist 
G.is Engineer 
Properties 
Treasurer 
Tick<jt Agent 
Ass't. Ticket Agent 
Chief of Ushers 
Door Keepers, ATthur Vaughan, Amos 
Schaffer, Chas. Harris, C. D. Murphy, 
A. H. Kemp. 



1S54:— Seats 3000. 

Eugene Tompkins 

H. A. McGlcnon 

L.J. McCarty 

Napier Lothian 

James \V. Taylor 

S. Gctz 

Sommer 

Gannon 

Wm. P. P-escott 

Geo. Sevey 

Joseph I"". Sullivan 

Qiiincv Kilby 

Dan'l 'Hurley 

James T. Graham 

\\. H. Onthank 



) John : 
( Richard 



Opened as Sehvyn's Theatre Oct. 29, 
Re-opened as Globe Theatre, Sept. 
1S70. Burned May 30, 187^. 
Re-opened Dec. 3, 1874. 
Seats 2200. 



1S67. 



Prop, and Manager 

Acting Manager 

Treasurer 

Mu. ical Director 

Ticket Agent 

Stage Manager 

Scenic Artist 

jNIachinist 

Properties 

Gas Engineer 



Jr. 



John Stetson 

■rank Pilling 

Martin Drake 

Theo. Bcndix 

Saul J. Hnmilburg 

T. P. Cooke 

ll. L. Reid 

John Prior 

William Otis 

W. J. Moorhead 



PARK THEATRE. 



Re-constructed from Beethoven Hall and 
opened, April 14, 1S79:— Seats 1184. 

Lessees and Managers 

Business Manager 
Treasurer 
Ticket Seller 
Doorkeepers 

Advertising Agent 
Scenic Aitist 
Music Director 
JVIaster Carpenter 
Property Man 
Gas Engineer 
Chief Usiier 
Janitor 



Henry E. Abbey 

Jno. B. Schoeffel 

E. R. Byram 

Philip A. Shea 

J. A. Countie 

I J. F. Vila 

( J. D. Donovan 

f. C. McGarrey 

S. Schcll 

N. Catlin 

Edwin Morse 

John Kelly 

W.J.Kelly 

Chas. M. Tighe 

H. A. ColBert 



i 



HOLLIS STREET THEATRE. 



Opened Nov. 9, 1S85:— -Seats 1650. 

Proprietor and Manager Isaac B. Rich 

Assistant Manager Charles J. Rich 

Stage IManager William Dixon 

Scenic Aitist John A. Thompson 

Machinist D. B. Craig 

Electrician and Steam Engineer 

James McElroy 
Properties R. G. Pullar 

Musical Director John C. Mullaly 

H. B. Rob'rts, Jr. 
John F. Shea 
\V. A. Given 

! James Ayres 

Emery N. Moore 
Mrs. Alice L. Anderson 



Treasurer 
Ticket Agent 
Chief of Ushers 
Doorkeepeis 
Matron 



FULL RECORD OFTHE YEAR. 



[As the Book is arranged chronologically this record will serve also 
as an index. ' When a play runs through an entire week only the 
Monday date is given ; when otherwise, the date of the entire week 
in which the piece appeared is given. A. signifies Howard Athe- 
neum ; B. Boston Theatre ; G. Globe Theatre ; H. Hollis Street ; 
AI. Museum ; F. Park.] 



Adina, Jan. 31-Feb. 5, B. 
Adrteiine, Jan. T7-22, H; Apr. 4- 

9, H. 
Aida, Jan. 10-15, B; Feb. 14-19, B. 
AUxe, Oct. 24, P. 
Alone in London^ Mar. 7, B. 
Antoinette Rigaud, Mar. 7, M. 
Aphrodite, Aug. i, M. 
Arcadia, June 27, M. 
Article 47, Oct. 24, P. 
As /?/ a Lookijig Glass-, Nov. 21, G. 
^5 Ton Like It, Jan. 3-8, H ; Feb. 

21-26, B; Apr. 18-23, P; Aug. 8, 

Manchester. 

Bal Costume, Jan. 3-8, B. 

Barnabee, H. C. in Adina, Jan. 31- 
Feb. 5, B. 

Barrett, Lawrence, in Rienzi Jan. 
17, B ; yulius Ccpsar, Othello, 
Hamlet, King Lear, Merchant of 
Venice, Macbeth, Dec. 12-24, ^^ 

Barrett, Wilson, in Hamlet, Clito, 
Chatterton, Color Sergeant, 



Clerical Error, Lady of Lyotis, 

Mar. 2i-Apr. 2, G. 
Barron, Chas. in Dominie's Daugh- 
ter, Aug. 29, M ; Red La7m^^ Sep. 

19, M; Sophia, Oct. 17, M. 
Barry, Wm., in Irish Aristocracy, 

Aug. 15, B; Mulcahefs Big 

Party, Aug. 22, B. 
Barrister, The, Nov. 28, M. 
Barr}^ Mrs. Thos. in Re?ie, Sept. 

5, G. 
Bassett, Russell, in Goldeti Giant, 

Dec. 5, H. 
Belle Lamar, Feb. 3, H. 
Bellington, Fred, in Ruddygore, 

April 4, G. 
Bennati, Julia, in LeGra?id Mogul, 

Oct. 17-22, G. 
Bernhardt, Sara, in Fedora, Ad- 

riennc, Theodora, Frou Frou, 

Camillc, Apr. 4-9, H. 
Bishop, C. B., \xi Highest Bidder, 

Nov. 21. H. 
Bohemia?i Girl, Jan. 31-Feb. 5, B. 



82 



The Playgoers' Year-Book. 



Bonkeur Conjugal^ May i6, M. 
Boniface G. C, in Streets ofN. r., 

June 13, B. 
Booth, Edwin, in jfultus Ccssar, 

Othello, Hamlet, King Lear, 

Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, 

Dec. 12--24, B. 
Booth, Agnes, in jfim, the Penmaji, 

May 2, P. 
Boucicault, Dion, in Jilt, Fin Mac 

Cool, Jan. 17-Mar. 12, H; in 

Phryyie, Oct. 17, H. ; in Shaugh- 

raicn, Oct. 27, H. ; in Colleeii 

Baivn, Nov. 7, H. 
Brocolini, Sig. in Ruddygore, Apr. 

4> G. 
Bronson, Phil, in Ruddygore, Apr. 

4, G. 
Bryton, Fred, in Forgiven, Jan. 3, 

A. ; Aug. 22, G. ; Dec. 12, G. 
Bufich of Keys, Jan. 17, P. ; Nov. 

28, P. 
Burbeck, F. M. in Antoinette 

Rigatid, Mar. 7, M. 
Burroughs, Marie, in Jim, the Peti- 

jnan, May 2, P. 
Burrows, James, in Dr. Jekyll, Mav 

9, M. 

Camille., Jan. IQ-15, H. ; Apr. 4 — 

9, H. 
Carle, Alice, in Ruddygore, Apr. 

4, G. 
Caught in a Cortier, Jan. 31, G. 
Chanfrau, Henry, in Octoroon, Apr. 

18, B. ; in Kit, Sept. 5, B. 
Chatterton, Mar. 21-26, G. 
Cheek, Aug. 22, M. 

Chester, Annie, in Red La7np, Sep. 

19, M. 

Circus Rider, Dec. 5, P. 

Clark in Adifta, Jan. 31-Feb. 5, B. 

Clarke, Annie, in Red Lamp, Sep. 

19, M. ; in Sophia, Oct. 17, M. 
Clerical Error, Mar. 21-26, G. 
Clito, Mar. 21-26, G. 
Coghlan, Rose, in Masks and Faces, 

School for Sca7idal, Lady of 

Lyons, Apr. 18-23, H. 
Colleen Ba-iV?i, Nov. 17, H. 
Color Sergeant, Mar. 21-26, G. 
Coppelia, ]2)in. 10-15, B ; Feb. 14— 

19, B. 
Corinne in Arcadia, June 27, M. 
Corsair, The, Sep. 5, H. 



Coulter, Frazer, in Antoinette 
Rigaud, Mar. 7, M ; Dr. Jekyll, 
May 9, M. 

Cousi7i Zachary, Dec. 12, P. 

Craigen, Maida, in A)itoi?iette Ri- 
gaud, Mar. 7, M. 

Cricket on the Hearth, Nov. 7, G. 

Curtis, ]M. B., in Caught in a Cor- 
ner, Jan. 31, G. 

Daly, Augustin, May 16, M. 

Daly, Thos. A., in Vacation, Apr. 

25, H ; in Upside Down, Nov. 

14, H. 
Damon and Pythias, Nov. 28~Dec. 

3, H. 
Dan Darcy, Nov. 28, A. 
Daniela, Jan. 3—8, H. 
Daniels, Frank, in Little Puck, Dec. 

19, G. 
Davenport, E. L., in Dominie's 

Daughter, Aug. 29, M. 
Davenpoit, Fanny, in Fedora, Lady 

of Lyons, Much Ado, School for 

Scandal, Londo7i Assurance, 

Oliver Twist, As Tou Like It, 

Apr. 11--23, P. 
Davis, Mrs. J. B., in Galatea ^^-xn. 

3-8, B. 
Deacon's Daughter, Oct. 3, P. 
Diplomacy, Oct. 3, M. 
Domhey and Sc?i, Apr. 4—9, P. 
Dominie's Daughter, Aug. 29, M. 
Double Lcsson,ls\?^x, 7--12, P. 
Downing, Robt. in The Gladiator 

Mar. 14, B. 
Drew, John, in Love in Har?iess, 

May l6, M; itt Tamitig of The 

Shretv, May 23, M. 
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, May 9, 

M. 

Earl, The, Apr. 11, H. 

Eastlake, Mary, in Lady of Lyons, 
Apr. I, G. ' 

Editha's Burglar, Dec. 12, H. 

Elixir of Love, Jan. 3i--Feb. 5, B. 

Engagcd,K\-)Y. 11-16, M. 

Erminic, Sept. 19, G. 

Evangeline, May 2, H. 

Evesson, Isaijelle, in Antoinette Ri- 
gaud, Mar. 7, M; in /^r. Jekyll, 
May 9, M ; in Dominie's Daugh- 
ter, Aug. 29, M ; in Sophia, Oci. 
17, M. 



Full Record of the Year. 



83 



Exiles, The, Nov. 28, B. 

Fautasma, Dec. 5, G. 
Fatiiiitza^ Oct. 17—32, G- 
Faust, Jan. 3-8, B; Feb. 14--19, B. 
Fay, Hugh, in Irish Aristocracy, 

Aug. 15, B; Mulcahefs Big 

Pa)'ty, Aug. 22, B. 
Fedora, Apr. 4-9, H; Apr. ii~i6- 

P. 
Fi}i Mac Cool, Feb. 3, H. 
Fillc die Mine. Angot, Oct. 17--22 G. 
Fisher, Chas., in Love in Harness, 

May 16, M. 
Flirt, The, Apr. 4--9, P. 
Florence, W. J., in Mighty Dollar, 

Dombcy and Son, Our Governor, 

The Flirt, Apr. 4-9, P. 
Flying Dutchman, Jan. 10—15, B; 

Feb. 14—19, B. 
Forget-Me-Not, Mar. 14-19, P, 
Forgiven, Jan. 3, A; Aug. 22, G; 

Dec. 12, G. 
Fortescue, May, in Grefcheii, 

Moths, Frou Frou, Svjeethearts 

with King Rene's Daughter, Jan. 

Fra Diavalo, Jan. 31 -Feb. 5, B. 
Frou Frou, Jan. 3—8, H ; Jan. 10— 
15, P; Apr. 4-9, H. 

Galatea, Jan. 3-8, B. 

Galba, Nov. 28--Dec. 3, H. 

Game of Cards Mar. 7—12, P. 

Gaston Cadol, Nov. 28~Dec. 3, H. 

Gilbert, Mrs. G. H., in Love in 
Harness, May 16, M. 

Gilbert, Wm., in Taming of The 
Shrczv, May 23, M. 

Gillette, W. H. in Private Secre- 
tary, Feb. 21, P; Editha's Bur- 
glar, Great Pink Pearl, Dec. 

^^12, H. 

Giuri, Marie, in Coppelia, Jan. 10— 
i^', B. 

Gladiator, The, Mar. 14, B. 

Golden Giant, Dec. 5, H. 

Goodwin, Myra, in Philofene, Oct. 

17, P- 
Goodwin, N. C, in Little Jack 

Sheppard, May 30, P. 
(irand Mogul, Oct. 17-24, G. 
( rretchen, Jan. 3, P. 
(rreat Pink Pearl, Dec. 12, H. 



Griswold, Gertrude, in Lorraine, 

Feb. 14, G. 
Guv'nor, The, Apr. 4, M ; Oct. 10, 

M. 
Gypsy Baron, Mar. 14, H. 

Hamlet, IAtx-x. 21—26, G ; Dec. 19— 

24, B. 
Hanlon, William, in Fantasma, 

Dec. 5, G. 
Haworth, Jos., in Hoodman Blind, 

Feb. 7, P. 
Held by the Enemy, Dec. 27, 1S86. 

M. 
Hermann, Maj^ 16, B. 
Her Second Love, Apr. 11. B. 
Highest Bidder, Nov. 21, H. 
Hole in the Ground, Oct. 31, P, 
Holland, E. M., in Jim, the Penman, 

May 2, P. 
Honeymoon, The, Feb. 21—26, B; 

Apr. 4-9, B. 
Hoodman Blind, Feb. 7, P. 
Hudson, Alfred, in Aiitoinette Ri- 

gaud. Mar. 7, M; in Dr. Jekyll, 

May 9, M. 
Huguenots, The, Jan. 3-8, B. 
Huguenot Captain, Sep. 5, G. 
Hu?7tmi7ig Bird, ]^n. 24, P. 

Ideal Opera, Jan. 3i~Feb. 12, B. 
/ Dine xvith my Mother, Nov. 28, 

M. 
Li Honor Bound., Mar. 7—12, P. 
Irish Aristocracy, Aug. 15, B. 

James, Lewis, in Virginius, Romeo 
and Juliet, Much Ado, Jan. 24— 
29, G. 

Janauschek, Mme., in Meg. Mcr- 
rilies, Apr. 25, P. 

Jefferson, Joseph, in Cricket on the 
Hearth, Lend me Five Shillings, 
Rip Van Winkle, Nov. 7, G. 

Jilt, The, Jan. 24, H. 

Jim, the Petiman, May 2, P; Sep. 

5, P. 
Julius Ccesar, Dec. 12, B. 

Karl, Tom, in Adina, Jan. 31— Feb 

5, B. 
Kellar, May 30, M. 
Kendall, Ezra J., in Pair of Kids., 

Aug. 29, G. 
Kerry Go-v, Mar. 14—19, G. 



84 



The Playgoers' Year-Book, 



Kifig Renews Daughter^ Jan. 10—15, 

P. 
Kiralfj in Ratcatcher, Mar. 2, B; 

in Lagardere, Oct. 24, G. 
Kit, Sep. 5, B. 

Knight, G. S., in Over the Garden 
Wall, Feb. 7, G. 

Lady Clancarty, Feb. 28-Mar. 5 B. 
Lady of Lyo7is, Feb. 21-26, B; Apr. 

I, G; Apr. 4-9, B ; Apr, 11--16, 

P; Apr. 18-23, H. 
Lagardere, Oct. 24, G. 
Lakme, Jan. 10-15,6. 
Lamb, F. E., in Run of Luck, Sep. 

12, B. 
Lament, Helen, in Ruddygore, 

Apr. 4, G. 
Langtry, Mrs., in Lady Clancarty, 

Pyg. & Gal., Feb. 28-Mar. 5, B; 

As in a Looking Glass, Nov. 21, 

G. 
Leah, Feb. 21-26, B; Apr. 4-9, B. 
Lend me Rive Shillings, Nov. 7, G. 
Leslie, Elsie, in Edithd's Burglar, 

Dec. 12, H. 
Lewis, Jas., in Love in Harness, 

May 16, M. 
Lights (?' London, Nov. 14, G. 
Little Jack Sheppard, May 30, P. 
Little Puck, Dec. 19, G. 
Lohejigrin, Jan. 3-15, B; Feb. 14— 

19, B. 
Lo7idon Assurance, Feb. 21-26, B; 

Apr. 11-16, P; Apr. 18--23, M. 
Lorraijie, Feb. 14, G. 
Losee, Frank, in Run of Luck, Sep. 

12, B. 
Lotta in Pawn Ticket No. 210, 

Nov. 14, P. 
Love in Hartiess, Maj- 16, M. 
Lussan, Zelie de., in Adina, Jan. 

31-Feb. 5, B. 

Macbeth, Feb. 21-26, B; Apr. 4-9, 

B ; Dec. 19-24, B. 
Magistrate, The, Mar. 28, M. 
Maguinnis, Dan., in Fiii Mac Cool, 

Feb. 3, H ; in Run of Luck, Sep. 

12, B. 
Maid of Honor, Mar. 14-19, P. 
Main Line, Jan. 17, G. 
Mansfield, Rich, in Prince Karl, 

Mar. 28, P; Parisian Romance, 



Apr. 25, M; Dr. Jekyll attd Mr. 

Hyde, May 9, M. 
Mantell, R. B., in Tangled Lives. 

Feb. 28, G. 
Marriage of Jeanette, Jan. 3-8, B. 
Martha, Jan. 10—15, ^5 J^"- 1-3, 

Feb. 5, B; Feb. 14--19, B. 
Mary Stuart, Jan. 10--15, H. 
Mascot, The, Oct. 17-22, G. 
Masks a?id Paces, Api. 11-16, M; 

Apr. 18-23, H. 
Mason, J. B., in Main Line, Jan. 

17, G. 
Mather, Margaret, in London As- 
surance, Lady of Lyons, Leah, 

Romeo and Juliet, As 7~ou Like 

It, Honeymoon, Macbeth, Feb. 

21-26, B; R. & J., Honeymoon, 

Leah, Macbeth, L. of L'ns., Apr. 

4-9. B. 
Meg Merrilies, Apr. 25, P. 
Mercha?it of Vetiice, Dec. 19-24, B. 
Meredith, Harry, in Rajich 10, June 

20, B. 
Mighty Dollar, Apr. 4-9, P. 
Mikado, The, May 23, G. 
Modjeska, Mme., in As Tou Like 

It, Da7iiela, Frou Frou, Mary 

Stuart, Twelfth Night, Camille, 

Adrienne, Jan. 3-22, H. 
Monte Cristo, Sep. 12, G. 
Moore, Laura, in Galatea, Jan. 3- 

8,B. 
Morris, Clara, in Article 4"/, Alixe, 

Oct. 24, P. 
Moths, Jan. 10-15, P- 
Much Ado about Nothing, Jan. 24— 

29, G; Apr. 11-16, P. 
Mulcahefs Big Party, Aug. 22, B. 
Murphy, J. S., in Kerry Goiv, 

Shaun Rhue, Mar. 14-19, G. 
My Brothers Sister, Dec. 26, H. 
My Milliner's Bill, Mar. 7-12, P; 

Dec. 12, P. 

National Opera, Jan. 3—15, B; Feb. 
14-19, B. 

Octoroon, The, Apr. 18, B. 
Old Homestead, Dec. 26, B. 
Oliver Tavist, Apr. 11-16, P; Apr. 

18-23, M; Oct. 15 M. 
O'Neil, James, in Monte Cristo, 

Sep. 12, G. 



Full Record of the Year. 



85 



On the Rio Grande^ May 9, B. 
Orf>heus and Eurydice, Jan. 3— 8, B. 
Othello, Dec. 19—24, B. 
Our Govertior, Apr. 4—9, P. 
Over the Garden Wall, Feb. 7, G. 

Pair of Kids, Aug. 29, G. 

Palmer, A. M., May 2, P; Sep. 5, P. 

Palmer, Minnie, in My Brother's 
Sister, Dec. 26, H. 

Pa?ttomime Rehearsal, Mar. 7—12, 
P; Dec. 12, P. 

Parisian Ro7na7tce, Apr. 25, M. 

Parlor Match, Dec. 26, P. 

Passijig Shadoivs, Apr. 11, B. 

Patience, Jan 10—15, Gr. 

Patti, Adelina, in Seiniramide, 
Apr. 28, B ; Traviata, Apr. 30, 
B. 

Pawn Ticket No, 210, Nov. 14, P. 

Philopene, Oct. 17, P. 

Phryne, Oct. 17, H. 

Pinafore, Maj 2, B- 

Pitt, H. M., in Jim, the Penman, 
May 2, P. 

Pixley, Annie, in Deaco7t^s Daugh- 
ter, Oct. 3, P. 

Ponisi, Mme. in Dominie's Daugh- 
ter, Aug. 29, M. 

Price, Mark, in On the Rio Gra?ide, 
May 9, B. 

Prince Karl, Mar. 28, P. 

Princess Ida, Jan. 3—8, G. 

Private Secretary, Feb. 21, P. 

Putnam, Boyd, in Dr. Jekyll, May 
9, M. 

Pygmalion and Galatea, Feb. 28— 
Mar. 5, B. 

Queen's Favorite, Mar. 14—19, P. 

Rag Baby, Mar. 21, P. 

Rankin, Mrs. McKee, in Golden 

Giant^ Dec. 5, H. 
Ra?tch 10, June 20, B. 
Ratcatcher, The, Mar. 21, B. 
Red Lamp, Sep. 19, M. 
Redraund, Wm., in Rene, Sep. 5, G. 
Reed, Chas., in Ruddygore, Apr. 4, 

G. 
Reed, Roland, in Cheek, Aug. 22, 

M. 
Rehan, Ada, in Love in Harness, 

May 16, M; Taming of the 

Shre-ixj, May 23, M. 



Rene, Sep. 5, G. 

Riddle, Geo., in The Earl, Apr. 11, 

H. 
Rienzi, Jan. 17, B. 
Rip Van Winkle, Nov. 7, G. 
Rivals, The, Mar. 21-26, M. 
Roach, J. C, in Dan Darcy, Nov. 

28, A. 
Robinson, Frederick, in Jim, the 

Penman, May 2, P. 
Rotnance of a Toung Wife, Oct. 

17, H. 
Romeo and Juliet, Jan. 24—29, G; 

Feb. 21-26, B; Apr. 4-9, B. 
Ruddygore, Apr. 4, G. 
i??^;/ <?/ Luck, Sep. 12, B. 
Ryan, Kate, in Dr. Jekyll, May 9. 

M. 

Salsbury Troubadours, Jan. 24, P. 
Salvini, Alex., in Jim, the Penman, 

May 2, P. 
School for Scandal, Apr. 11— 16, P; 

Apr. 18-23, H. 
Schoolmistress, The, Feb. 28, P. 
Scrap of Paper, Apr, 18—23, M. 
Semir amide, Apr. 28, B. 
Serment d' Amour, Oct. 17—22, G. 
Seymour, Wm., in Sophia, Oct. 17, 
M. 

Shaughrau?i, The, Oct. 27, H. 
Shau7i Rhue, Mar. 14-19, G. 
Sheridan, Emma, in Dr. Jekyll, 

May 9, M. 
She Stoops to Conquer, Apr. 11— 16- 

M. 
Simpson <£: Co., Apr. 18—23, M; 

Oct. 15, M. 
S7iake Char7ner, Oct. 17—24, G. 
Soggarth, The, Dec. 19, M. 
Soldene, Emily, in Lorraine, Feb. 

.. ' 
Solon Shingle, Mar. 7, M. 
Sophia, Oct. 17, M. 
Sothern, E. H., in Highest Bidder, 

Nov. 21, H. 
Stevens, J. A., in Passi7ig Shadows, 

Apr. II, B. 
Streets of New Tork, June 13, B. 
Sweetheai'ts, Jan. 10-15, ^5 Apr. 

ii"i6, M. 
Sylvia, Jan. 3-8, B. 

Taming of the Shrew, May 23, M. 
Ta7igled Lives, Feb. 28, B. 



86 



The Playgoers' Year-Book. 



Tanner, Cora, in Alotte /« Londo}2. 
Mar. 7, B. 

Theodora^ Apr. 4—9, H. 

Thompson, Denman, in Old Home- 
stead, Dec. 26, B. 

Thorne, Grace, in RiiJi of Ltick, 
Sep. 12, B. 

Thorndjke, Louise, in P/iiyne, 
Oct. 17, H. 

Traviata, Apr. 30, B. 

Triple Allzatice, Mar. 14--19, P. 

T-welftk Night, Jan. 10—15, H. 

Ufzder the Gaslight, June 6, B. 
Upside Doivn, Nov. 14, H. 

Vacation, Apr. 25, H. 

Vanderfelt, E. H., in Aiitoinette 
Rigaud, Mar. 7, M. 

Vernon, W. H., in ^ueeti's Fav- 
orite, Mar. 14—19, P. 

Verre d' Eati, Mar. 14--19, P. 

Victor, Jan. 3i--Feb. 5, B. 

Vincent, Mrs. J. R., in Dojuinie's 
Daughter, Aug. 29, M ; death, 
Sep. 4. 

Virginius, June 24, G ; Nov. 28-- 
Dec. 3, H. 



Vokes, Rosina, at P., in The 
Schoolmistress, Feb. 28 ; Iti 
Honor Bound, Mar. 7--12; My 
Milliner's Bill, Mar. 7-12, Dec. 
12; A Double Lesson, Mar. 7—12; 
Dec. 5 ; Pantomime Rehearsal, 
Mar. 7—12; Dec. 12; Game of 
Cards, Mar. 7-12; Which is 
Which, Dec. 5 ; Circus Rider, 
Dec. 5; Cousin Zachary, Dec. 12; 
Widow's Device, Dec. 21, P. 

Wamwright, Marie, in Virginus, 
Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado, 
Jan. 24—29, G. 

Walsh, Flora, in Hole ifi the 
Ground, Oct. 31- P- 

Ward, Genevieve, in Queen's Fav- 
orite, Forget-Me-Not, Mar. 14-- 
19, P. 

Warde Fred., in Virgi?iius, Damon 
and Pythias, Gaston Cadol, 
Galba, Nov. 28, H. 

Which is Which, Dec. 5, P. 

Widow's Device, Dec. 21, P. 

Wilson, Geo. W., in Sophia, Oct. 
17, M. 

World, The, May 30, B. 



INDEX OF THEATRES BY PAGES. 



Bijou. — 72. 

Boston.— 8, II, 13, 15, 20, 22, 24, 25, 38, 45, 48, 52, 53, 69. 

Globe.— 9, 14, 19, 23, '7^2>^ 48, 52, 61, 72. 

Hollis St.— 9, 12, 20, 32, 35, 36, 61, 63, 65, dd, dZ, 70, 72. 

Howard. — 72. 

Museum.— 5, 9, 25, 27, 43, 46, 48, 55, 58, 65, 67, 71. 

Park— 9, 10, 19, 22, 24, 29, 31, 36, iZ, 39, 40, 47^ 62, 69. 



Biography. 87 

THE YEAR-BOOK BIOGRAPHY. 



Minnie Palmer's Unique Record. 



The bright little actress who closed the year at the HolHs Street 
Theatre is a thorough American at heart, but yet cosmopolitan in 
reputation. She is one of the few who have won plaudits among all 
the English speaking people of the globe, and her return to Boston 
after a three years' absence therefore warrants especial mention. 
Born in Philadelphia, March 31, 1865, Minnie Palmer received 
her early education at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Manhatten- 
ville, N. Y. But with her studies she indulged in the pleasures of 
private theatricals and the applause that admiring friends bestowed 
upon her amateur efforts led her to seek a professional opening. 
Her debut was made in a juvenile part at the Park Theatre, Brook- 
lyn, in 1876, and there her success was so marked as to lead her 
parents to prepare her for future advance by completing her edu- 
cation in Vienna. To this study and practice on the Continent is 
due her proficiency in the German language, as well as in singing and 
dancing, which leads her to anticipate a future starring tour in the 
land of the Teutons. But while abroad. Miss Palmer received a 
cablegram offering her the part of Dorothy in Daniel Druce, at Booth's 
Theatre, New York, and this she accepted. Succeeding that came 
an engagement under Henry E. Abbey's management at the Park 
In the latter playhouse she appeared in Engaged, Cricket on the 
Hearth, Champagne and Oysters^ etc., following those plays with a 
special engagement, under the management of David Bidwell in New 
Orleans, as Louise in The Two Orphans. This last character was 
widely different from any she had hitherto assumed, but she made 
an instant hit. Then came her starring seasons in Minnie Palmer's 
Boarding School, and following that in My Sweetheart. Her 
recent tour of Great Britain and xAustralia is well known, while her 
later vivacious impersonations of the leading characters in The 
Schoolmistress, Pert, Little Treasure, Ring and Keeper, and My 
Brothel''' s Sister have received warm praise. Miss Palmer's success 
has been not only professional but also social, the little lady winning 
abroad the friendships of the best people and in America gaining the 
distinction of being the only actress privately received at the White 
House by Mrs. Cleveland. 



The Playgoers' Year-Book. 



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'■''^ :se Orjjan.c a'-e :• ;kiio\vled; .^d to be the most beautiful and peuect 
R'. ln;-1 -"Hi* acv . They are used in every country on the Globe. 

in the Ttoi -r.! ■>. I'uf CiirRcn. The Chai'ei. and in Misic- II at.t.' axd 



]:NGLAND ORGAN CO.. 



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